Janis Herbert

The Far East comes alive in this activity book centered on Marco Polo’s journey to China from Venice along the 13th-century Silk Road. Kids will join Marco as he travels by caravan through vast deserts and over steep mountain ranges, stopping in exotic cities and humble villages, until at last he arrives at the palace of the Kublai Khan. Woven throughout the tale are 21 activities that highlight the diverse cultures Marco encountered along the way. Activities include making a mythical map, show more creating a mosaic, fun with Feng Shui, making paper, and putting on a wayang-kulit (shadow-puppet play). Just for fun, kids will learn a few words of Turkish, Persian, Mongol, Hindi, and Chinese. A complete resource section with magnificent museums and their Web sites invites kids to embark on their own expedition of discovery. show less

My son paged through it and reports that he wants more science & technology activities... after all, the cool thing about da Vinci, as opposed to so many other artists, is that he had those sketches of inventions & contraptions... and lots of kids who otherwise don't much read or like art do love contraptions. Save the art activities for a companion book on Michelangelo or Picasso....
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He's not wrong. Very confusing book. Lots of biographical texts, and pictures. Superficial introduction to show more art appreciation. Activities usually either too hard or too lame for the target audience... oh, wait, who is the target audience? Design is an oversize paperback, hard to hold, hard to read, with activities and sidebars mixed up together with text on almost every page. I kinda liked the 'riddles' and the recipe for anise sweets. show less

I thought this book was very informational. I liked how it was organized, the pictures, and the content. It was organized in a way that was easy to find specific information. For example, there was a table of contents. This is helpful because the reader can easily find information on a specific topic. For example, if I wanted to read about “The Civil War,” I could look at the table of contents and know to flip right to chapter 6, on page 83. Following the introduction is a timeline of show more Abraham Lincoln’s life. This was helpful because it was an overview of what the book would be about. The timeline begins in 1803, with his birth and ends in 1865, with his death. I thought it was nice because it was another way of learning about his life and the information was presented in a way that was engaging and easy to follow. I thought the pictures in this book were awesome. They really depicted exactly what was happening in the book, on that particular page. For example, one of my favorite pictures was the union troops drilling because it showed the reader exactly what it looked like. I also really liked the content in this book. Not only did it inform about the life of Abraham Lincoln in detail, but also it was interesting and comprehensible for children. For example, throughout the story, there were lots of activities for children. All of the activities related to the text and would help to deeper the child’s understanding. For example, one activity had the children write a letter, like they did during that time period. The main idea of this book is to teach all about the life of Abraham Lincoln. show less

This book is great! It combines detailed information about the American Revolution and hands-on activities that the kids can do on their own. This is a great resource that I will use to pull different activities from to engage the children during our study.