Peter Roop

"If You Lived with the Cherokees" walks the reader through the early stages of the tribe, through the different battles they fought in, and the Trail of Tears. It ends with the Cherokees been able to establish themselves in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The author describes specific clothing they used, the tools they needed to care for their families, and the rituals they held in order to live and honor their ancestors and way of life. This book is exceptional and engaging. It is a fifth grade level show more book, but could be used for children in lower grades if pulling specific parts out of the book to integrate into small lessons about specific parts of the lives of Cherokees prior to the formation of the American Nation.
I could and would incorporate this book in a lesson about the Trail of Tears by telling this story during that section of the unit. Pages 66-79 would be the pages I would use as a reference to aid me in telling this part of history. show less

Nonfiction easy readers are a trend that I absolutely get behind. They're super popular with both kids and parents and introduce beginning readers to a wider range of books, rather than just the typical odd couple friendship fiction of traditional easy readers.

Peter and Connie Roop, who have been authoring beginning chapters and easy readers for years, have adapted quite well to the new, photograph-illustrated model of easy readers.

Each page is arranged in two horizontal blocks. The top show more shows a dolphin photograph, matched by the simple text against a white background on the bottom half of the spread. Each side of the page has 1-2 short sentences. There is a lot of unused white space around the text and I felt the font could have been larger, especially since this is supposed to be the easiest reader level (although it's not aimed at emergent readers). I did appreciate that the photographs were laid out in conjunction with the text, so when it says "The pod swims fast. The dolphins jump into the air." the reader sees a photo of leaping dolphins.

The only thing that gave me pause was that in some of the pictures it appeared to me that it was a different baby dolphin, almost as big as the mother, although it's supposed to be a story of a baby dolphin's first day. However, some of the photos were unclear due to the poor binding, which gobbled up a lot of the gutter of the images. There's a "meet the expert" section at the back, which must be meant to be read aloud or by the parents. It's not really clear exactly what part the "expert" plays in the book, but I think these readers from the American Museum of Natural History have various museum staff vet them for accuracy.

Verdict: This isn't as eye-catching as, say, National Geographic Readers, but they can be quite busy for a beginning reader who needs less distraction. Dolphins are a popular topic and this is a serviceable selection that's reasonably well-written and has nice photographs. Recommended if you are purchasing additional nonfiction easy readers.

ISBN: 9781402777844; Published 2011 by Sterling/Prebound by Penworthy; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

I think that this is a great book that not only teaches the children about Martin Luther King Jr., but also teaches them about the inequality between African Americans and whites. They also do a great job of incorporating real life pictures.

This is a wonderful book (complete biography) about the life of Benjamin Franklin; commoner to founding father. The authors did a great job of selecting just the right information to keep the book interesting throughout. Benjamin Franklin is so important in American history and reading about his life helps the reader understand why. This book would be a great substitution/addition to a history book.

I especially enjoyed reading this biography about Ben Franklin. It has been quite some time show more since I learned about B. Franklin in school and my remembrance of his importance was somewhat faint. I knew that he had discovered the concepts of electricity from lightening, and that he was a founding father but he did so much more. It was neat to relearn that he invented the postal system, fire station, fireplace/stove etc. He also wanted to abolish slavery early on, was a great swimmer and was a very effective ambassador for America.

In the classroom, this would be a great teaching tool for creating timelines. I would have the students read about Ben Franklin and make a timeline of his life. I would also use this book as part of a science unit to teach the students about famous inventors and inventions. This book would be a good teaching tool for teaching a unit on the American Revolution as well. show less