Adrianna Morganelli

I liked this book, “Christopher Columbus: Sailing to a New World” for several reasons. First, this book is an introduction for children exploring Christopher Columbus’s place in history and the journey he embarked on to discover new lands. The book is divided into sections highlighting the major events and people he encountered on the journey. One of the sections is called “Columbus in America.” “Columbus learned from the natives of an island that they called Colba, known today show more as Cuba. When Columbus arrived in Cuba, he thought he was on a peninsula of the Asian mainland because of its large size.” Each section describes his travel journey, step-by-step, from the beginning to the end. The illustrations used in the book are detailed and accurate. There are also pictures of some of the real paintings from the trip. Some of the paintings shown are of the ships they traveled on, recipes of the food eaten, dates of voyages, and Clark’s information about various rulers from different regions they encountered. Another reason I like the book is there are words in bold print throughout the book, which are listed in the back of the book, along with their meaning, under a page titled “Glossary”. Also, underneath the glossary is the “Index”. The index is where referenced words are listed, with the page number where that word appears in the book. Overall, this story teaches children about the true history of the Christopher Columbus expedition from the 1400s to 1500s. show less

This book chronicles the life of Rick Hansen, who at age 15 was involved in a car accident and became paralyzed from the waist down. Rick had dreams of participating in the Olympics and was always involved in sports. After 7 months in rehab, Rick came back to his family and started participating in sports despite his disability. Rick played basketball and eventually went on a world tour traveling the globe in his wheelchair to raise money and awareness for those with disabilities. After 2 show more years, 2 months, and 2 days, Rick finally made it around the world and achieved his goal of raising money and awareness for those with disabilities. Rick did not stop there and went on to raise awareness and serve as an example that a disability should not stop anyone from accomplishing their dreams. show less

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