Saddleback Educational

A quick, easy illustrated biography of MLK. This is, I believe, aimed at YA readers. However for any reader it is a compressed and helpful overview of not only MLK's life but the arc of civil rights in struggled and accomplishment in the '50s and '60s.

Not bad. Some of the prose that accompanies the illustrations is quite wordy and I think you might lose a struggling student. The story itself is engaging enough to keep a moderate reader reading .

Summary: This book shows Disney before the mouse. Following Disney's life and struggles, to him creating the mouse that would change our world as we know it, this book illustrates that Disney was more than just an artist. He was a person too.

Personal Reaction: I absolutely loved this book. Walt Disney is an extraordinary person, and I feel students will connect with him. I think students will want to know more about the man behind the mouse.

Classroom extensions: I think it would be great for show more students to talk about their favorite Disney animations, and what they feel are the lessons behind the stories. I believe students could write a short biography about themselves, and who they want to be. show less

Part of Saddleback’s Illustrated Classics series. A simplified and condensed retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew as a graphic novel. The illustrations are done primarily in jewel tones and depict clothing and scenery appropriate to the play’s context. Footnotes define words or concepts likely to be unfamiliar to readers. Act and scene breaks from the play are not included in the novel, so it is not easy to relate the story to the original text of Shakespeare’s play, show more which may be important to some educators. Blue boxes provide setting information while the characters’ words are in yellow boxes making it easy to distinguish between the two. Pictures and names of the main characters are included at the beginning of the novel, but even with this guidance and the visual clues provided in the illustrations it may be difficult for readers to keep track of the various characters and their motivations. A more complete list of characters including a description of their role in the story would have been helpful. In combination with instruction, this could still be an important tool for introducing The Taming of the Shrew to hi-lo readers, particularly in communicating the inherent comedy of the play. Recommended. Ages 11 & up. show less