This book is another great collection of photographs from Life Magazine. This book is about 100 places to see in your lifetime. That is very true. A good number of these location our in our own country, such as the Big Sur or the Statue of Liberty, which many Americans have never seen. There are also many place around the world which many of us have never even heard of. This book is filled with full color photos that help us to see these far off lands. This is first and foremost a photobook. It is very short of text. The photographs are telling the story. What little text is provided is meant to tell you only the essential facts. The rest is up to you to decide, to you keep looking or do you go?

This is a great book to just spend the day looking at pictures. Each double page spread shows a different view of New Orleans. The first page shows historical photographs of the city from the past 50-60 years, while the second pasge shows a more recent photograph. One of the best sets to me is a comparison of a location near Lake Pontchartrain. The first picture shows a scene during Hurricane Hilda, the second from Katrina. I gave a copy of this book to my aunt, and she told me stories of her life when she would look at the old photos. I would use this in a geography/ history class, getting my students to find out what has happened over time to change things between the pictures.

This is a cookbook. This is an oral history. This is both. The author of this book put together 33 different stories about one thing, food. The author didn't interview professional cooks. These are the stories of regular people. Each story is told by people, of different colors, religions, and neighborhoods. Each story is personal, telling us what cooking and food means to them. This is what make the book work. That personal connection between our food and our lives, and the history that it creates. The book is also filled with numerious recipes, many of which have never been written dorn our told outside of certain families. Numerous insert sections add flavor to the stories, giving additon background detail to the personal accounts, such as how the germans saved New Orleans in the account of one ladies German heritage. This is a great way to get students interested about their own family history. You can use this book as a blueprint for students to write about their family and the foods that speakd for them.

This book is about the life and times of Isaac Asimov, one of the most influentional authors in science fiction. I picked up this book several years ago for my social studies certification course. We had to pick a biography/autobiography to due a report on. I didnot want to pick the typical books on historical figures, since that was what everyone elso does. I choose to do mine on Asimov, sicne I enjoyed his writings since I began reading science fiction. This book is a great example of telling the history of a segment of society most donn't talk about. Asimov's life covers a large part of the 20th century, from the Depression, several wars, atomic testing, the space program, and all to way to his death during the time of the AIDS crisis. If it were not for the fact that he is so connected with his work in science fiction, more people would be aware of his work in science and education. His use of combining words with his own thoughts on science and philosophy put him in the same catagory as Rachael Carson. I would highly recommend this book for english, science, and social studies.

This book is a biography on Steve Jobs, one of the most important people in modern history. As it was published recently, it is the only biography that covers Steves's life through till his death. It is part of an essential lives series of books written for young adults. It is relativly small book, not allowing itself to cover much detail. Much of the detail on Steves's life is covered in greater depth in other books. Their are many pages that are taken over with inserts detailing different aspects surrounding Steve's life. They disrupt the flow of the book, and could have been better intergrated into the main text. The book also tries to be neutral about Steves's confrontational personality, not taking a side for or against it. The book has a section that covers addittional sources that students and teachers can use to futher their research, such as webcasts ans well as written articles. At best, this book is a great way to students interested in his life. I would use it for a middle school class with additional materials to support it. For older students, I would have to use something else.

This book tells the story of a young jewish girls life during the outbreak of WWII. Where many books about the holocaust usally deal with the event inside the camps, this book takes a different approach. Over a 5 year period, we are drawn into her life. Not many of the holocaust books talk in any detail about the lives of the people experiencing this event. We see the author lose her childhood and grow up during this time of great tragedy.To see the day to day life reminds you that thes are people we are reading about, just like us. We are also seeing the point of view of people living in Hungry, a country that alied with and was latter occupied by the Germans. This is also different than many account of the Holocaust from those living in Germany and France, which is what is usally covered by many textbooks and history classes. I would use this book for any high school level course. This is a good way to have students learn about the significance of the holocaust to our modern history. We want our students to know that the things that happened in this book our still happening today in other parts of our world.

It states in the introduction of the book that it is taking a different approach to history. It is talking about history that "happens in the mind first." This is the history of ideas, a history driven by ideas. It is about looking at the very nature of the change in humanity. Every page is filled with wonderful illustrations and photos, designed to support the topic, weither it is about cannibalism, clavery, or environmentalism. The topics are to the point. They text is their to get you to think, not to just read and recall. The small connections insert gives you the pages to other topics that connect to what you are reading in the book, which helps tie everything together. My favorite part of the book is the readings section. Rather than have a seperate section in the back of the book or this, this book tries something different. The futher readings are put in a insert section for each topic. So as you are reading the topic on monetary theory, to can automaticly glance over to the insert that tells you of other books that can be read to continue on with this idea. I think this book is great to have for any class. It encourages you to think, which is a skill that we need to be teaching our students at any level. A good way to open our students up to the process of researching a topic.

This book gives us a look at some of the people that explored North America. The book is split into three sections, each dealing with a different group of explorers. This first section tals about the earliest explorers, namely the Vikings, the second deals with John and Sebastian Cabbot, ant the third with the French. It is great that this book spends the time talking about these groups, since many people forget that Columbus did not deiscover North Aamerica. There is also detail into the technology that they had to work with, from viking longships and navagational aids, to the primative maps shown in the illustrations. There is mention of even earlier explorers , such as the Irish, Chinese, and Arabs, but not much detail is given as they are not the foucus of this book. This book would be usable for a middle school class, since it covers much while not going into too much detail. Students will still have to check facts in order to study each topic. Since this book was published, much of what it talks about has now been brought up in history books and documentaries. It is in need of an updated edition.

This book is a brief look at the life of Elizabeth the 1st, Queen of England. The book tells the story of her life, starting first at the day she learned that she was the Queen, it then returnes to her childhood thru to her death. It is filled with many colorful illustrations that help show the people of that era. An entire chapter is devoted to the the accompishments that England made under her rule. Because of it's size, it is not as detailed as many of the other books on the subject. Many important parts of her life, such as the affects of the death of her mother, is condensed into a few lines of text. The chapter on her accomplishments could have been put back into the previous chapters rather than taken out and put at the end of the book. This book would be useful for younger students as a starting offf point into futher learnings about this subject. For older students, I would want to use a more detailed book. At best, it could be used as a reading assignment that students would write about overnight or during a 90-120 minute class.

This is a great look at the life of one of the most important people in recent history. Rachel Carson is one of the most important people in our history that not many people seem to remember. This book givs us a great account of Rachel's life without getting bogged down in details. From Rachel's childhood growing up on the farm with nature, to her defense of the natural world, and her death, the author is able to get us drawn into it.

This book would be a great addition to any enviromental history class, as it depicts the struggles of the early enviromental movement, as well as the trails and pressures that Rachel had to put up with. This book also shows us how Rachel not only had a love of science, but also a love for writing, which she was able to combine in her work. It is a great example for showing students that you can be pasionate about multiply things and be good at them.

This book talks about the authors life, growing up with a learning disability. Having the firsthand knowledge of what she has experienced is a shocking look at the problems that many students and children have to deal with, the fact that they have learning disorders that are not recognized by the rest of society. Because our society has to have everything clearly defined and put in its place, many people cannot get the support that they desirve. This book is a wakeup call for the rest of us. The author shows us her struggle to overcome her condittion , and latter her acceptance of it.

My only problem with the book was not its writing style, put is print style. Everytime that you read a section out of the authors journal or personal writing, the text changes to a different style than what is used for the rest of the book. Everytime that I would read these sections, I would want to just glance over them rather than read them.

This book deals with the Salem witch trails that took place in the 17th century in colonial america. The author tries to tell the story of the witch trials. In the beginning of the book, he states how many of the facts that we have taken for granted over the years have become entangled with myth, making the the whole period of history hard to tell the truth from. The book does give the reader the information to make their own decisions about the event. It is a great look into the changes undergoing the Puritan society during that time, both from within and without: war, political infighting, jealousy, mob rule, and rebellion. Aronson does not try to give the answer of what happened. That is for us to decide. He does give many notes and references that allow the reader to continue on with their own reasearch. A good book for an american history class. This book is time consuming for both the class time and the students time. You will need to give your students some background knowledge before reading this book, as well as a dicussion on the differences in language that may cause the students to not understand the transcripts.

Persepolis tells the story of a young girl growing up during the time of the Islamic Revolution. It gives a view of her life from before the revolution leading up to her parents sending her to France for her safety. This book is unique since it is done in the style of a graphic novel. This does lend itself to the authors story. We always associate comics with children. It also hides the greater subjects in the book: revolution, war, suffering, lose, fear, and hope. Instead of words, you have hand drawn ilustrations to make your mind ask question instead of being told. It is a good choice for visual learners, as they can make their own asumptions about the book based on the picture, which can lead them into dicussion. The artstyle also allows teachers to bring across the subject war and revolution with showing the students actually photographs, which could be offensive or not appropriate for the class. I would use this book together with other history texts dealing with the Islamic revolution and the middle east at the time.

This book talks about Ernest Shackleton and his failed expedition to the Antartic. This book is easily one of the best reads that I have done so far in non-fiction. The book pulls you into this great piece of history that was the the whole lives of Shackleotn and his crew. The book is also filled with a number of original photographs that survived this event, which helps give a sense of the challenge that the crew went through. Even though this is a short book, it is by no means bad. The entire story is there. It is not a condensed number of facts. The lives of these people are talked about, from the crew building homes for their snow dogs to the Midwinters Day party. Not many books of this size would keep students as engaged as it does. I would use this book in any secondary history/ geography course.

A good look about the influences of the effects of major epidemics on the world. It talks about three: the Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. Each one is broken down into different chapters that cover the origins of the disease, its scientific background, effect on the world and outcome, as well as a personal story. At the end of the book, a small chapter covers the topic os these diseases still being a threat because of their adaptation to antibiotics. This is a great book to start students off on this topic. It only gives a brief glance at each epidemic, but enough information to get them interested. My favorite parts were the personal sections in the latter parts of the book. Hearing the personal stories of Rock Hudson and Ryan White helps connect us to the past events in a more personal tone. I did wish that such sections were avaliable for first two sections. There are few illustrations, and they are only used to seperate the different sections. This book could be used in a world history class, talking about how these epidemics helped to change the world.

This book is about the life and times of P.T.Barnum, considered the greatest showman on earth. He is best know for the creation of the modern circus that takes his name. He was also known for his famous museam. This book ties together those events with the moments that made up the rest of his life. It take a straightfoward look at his life, from birth to death. Interwoven within many pages are side topics and addition facts that liven up and add to Barnum's life as well as the period of time that he lived in. Almost every page is filled with period ilustrations and photos to help support the reading. The biography helps sugest additional books dealing with Barnum and the 19th century timeframe. My main problem with the book would be its constant use of breaking up the main text with all of the side notes.They are all show inside large black boxes that contrast with the white background of the main text. I find that it causes the reader to lose focus from the main text. Each of the side notes could have been added to the main text or at the very least, used a similar format in order to not distract the reader.

This book is a series of photos dealing with the television industry in New Orleans area before the advent of modern cable networks. It is the golden age of New Orleans television. The book starts off chronologically, beginning with the birth of the first local tv station. Each page is filled with picture after picture of classic New Orleans tv anchors, host, and programming. The book does not provide a reference list. Instead, every photo has a caption with it, providing a short description as well as stating the photo collections that provided it. This is an interesting choice for an american history class. The photos provide a great peek at what life/ society was like at that time, especially since all of the photos are in black & white, which many students have never seen before. Just looking at the photos makes you what to ask questions: why do they look like that, what was there life like, what makes them different than me.

This book is a brief history of Mardi Gras through numerious illustration and photos. The author is trying to condense over 200 years history into this book. It is not a detailed reference book. It is filled with countless artwork and photos to provide the sense of the history that happen each year. It tries to touch upon many topics, ranging from the birth of carnival all the way to post-katrina new orleans. Their are some topics that are not covered very well. Some topics, such as gay carnival clubs, only get two small captions as well as a listing of clubs in the back index. That being said, the author does try to give the different Krewes recognition where he can. The reference section in the back of the book is detailed with the numerous Krewes over the years, including the years they marched, as well as their themes. It also gives a list of book to futher your reading on carnival, as well as websites for many of the current Krewes. A good way to get your students interested in the local culture of New Orleans, showing how much of a backstory their is to what we have taken for granted, from king cakes to Mardi Gras Indians.

At first glance, you would think that this is a cookbook. Then you would be wrong. This book is a guide to the differnt countries of the world through the different foods that are eaten. Each region gets a brief discussion about their history as well as the staple foods for each country. The pages are full of great photos that help show these different foods. There are also highlighted sections that give special attention to signature dishs or food traditions. It could be used as a good intorduction into a more detailed dicussion about a country in a geography class. Many students may gain an interest in a different country just by reading about why they eat certain foods, such as potatoes or yogurt. You can also talk about how the weather of the different regions affect what is grown, which can tie into nutrition/ health. Their is also the possibility of tieing into an economics class by talking about the trade in food. The author not only provided references for the book, but also a list of recipes for a selction of the covered dishes. Since I am a big foodie, I am very interested in combining food with education. This book gives me a way of showing students how food is just as much a part of our lives as computers or language.

This book is a combination of two main topics: Science and History. Each main topic is latter broken down into subtopics like Flight and Ancient Egypt, and then even futher like Machines and Power of the Pharaohs. Each topic is given a double page full color spread. Each page is filled with illustrations, photos, detailed drawings, and a written description on the topic. This book doens't cover anything in great detail. It cannot. Because of its size and scope, it can only give the briefest of dicussion. Also, many of the topics are copyed from previous books in the series. This means that many of the topics in the science section have illustrations that are out of date with modern technology, such as using a picture of an Apple computer from the early 1990's for the computer topic in a book published in the 2000's. I would not recomend this for a high school class. If anything, it would be useful for a middle school class, but only a a starting off point. Their is also a lack of refferences that makes further research hard, since students will not know where they obtained the information for this book. Because of the books physical size, it is good to have if you are lacking in space in your classroom.

As a big sci-fi/ space enthusiast, I feel ashamed that I was not aware of this part of space history. As an historian, I am all too aware that this part of history may not be covered. This book is about the 13 women that could have become part of our space program. It starts off with a scene of the first women in command of a shuttle mission. It then goes back in time to the beggining of the space program, leading us through all of the trials and hardships these women faced in order to prove that they had the "right stuff." You get a good sense of the culture of that time and what it meant to be a woman in the 1950-1960's. You are drawn into understanding not just the plight of these women, but of the greater struggle that they weren't aware of, the struggle for equal rights for all peoples. This book is a good way to introduce the era to a high school social studies class and to talk about womens rights. The author tells this story in a straight foward fashion. She makes you feel compelled to keep reading own. By the end, for all their troubles, you made to feel that it was still worth it.

The first thing that I want to say is that this book is not about the children of the dust bowl. This is a mistake. What this book is aboout is the children that left the dust bowl and the school that they helped create in California. This book givs us a brief glance into what happens when people can make the best out of a bad situation. The first half of the book talks about the migration from the dust bowl and all of the hardship that came about. The second half of the book deals with the creation of the weedpatch school. This half of the book will be of great interest to educators. This is a story about how a group of teachers and students came together and created a school. The children are given a sense that they are as good as anyone else. That you can be part of your own enrichment, no matter who you are. The book gives a greate example of what a school can become when you tink outside the box and do all you can for the children .

This book gives a great peak into how one persons life can influence, and be influenced, by great change. The author gives us a great look at Marian Andersons life. Rather than do a book just about her life or just about the civil rights movement, he choose to start off at the high point of Ms. Anderson sings at the Lincon Memorial. He then flashes back to the beginning of her life and works his way back up to that point and beyond. I would not choose this book to talk about civil rights or equal rights. This is not the books primary focus. They are rather part of the framework that helps to build up Marian's story. If anything, I would recomend that anyone that uses this book would combine it wiht a full unit on the civil rights movement.

A great first read if you want to delve futher into the history of the Irish potato famine. The book does a good job of describing the blight of the Irish people as well as the standpoint of the English. The book is good to use for a high school history class as long as the students have aditional background materials to pull from. I found that the book did not try to overload the reader with detail after detail that many academic book on the topic would have. While this is good for a reader that knows nothing about this topic, it does leave you wanting more. Many of the pages are illustrated with picture taken from newspapers of the time which help to show the suffering in more detail.

A good choice for History teachers. This book is equal parts essay and photos. Each set of photos is supported by a short essay written by different authors. Each essay briefly talks about the topic, such as Stonehenge and the Nasca Lines. But it also leaves the reader with questions about these reasons for their creation. This book is a good start for leading students along the path of asking futher questions about the past. It best used with a middle school class. It does not give alot of detail, so it requires you to be able to look past what is written. I would want older students to use a more detailed book or article for each individual topic.

A great pick for any geography teacher. The book is filled with lots of great pictures taken for the archives of the National Geographic Society. The book is useful for a middle school class that has not learned much detail about the outside world. Each picture makes you want to ask a question. What kind of place is this? How far away is it from where I live? The text supports each picture, allowing the reader to be able gain details for each location. A good choice for visual learners.

This is your typical A to Z book for younger readers. This book chooses to focus on America for its topic. Each letter is beautifully illustrated with colorful artwork along with simple to the point text. Each letter brings up an appropriate image to tie into the greater topic of america. Each page shows positive images that are great for younger students. At the end of the book, notes for each letter help to expand upon the information provided so that parents can discuss with their children what they are learning. A nice way to get younger students interested in their countries heritage. Better suited for elementary students. Older students will find it to childish and not gain anything from the book.

A great way to introduce students and young children into history. The writing style does not bog readers down with detail after detail like a advanced book. Each journey is presented with drawings and pull-out illustrations that offer a detailed view into each momnent in time. it offer something for both those who like to read and those that like great artwork. I would use this book as an introduction for any history course before moving students on to detailed texts.

After reading this book, I wish that I would have had this back when I started in school as a child. I have never been much for writing anything. Over the years, all of the english classes that I ahve been in have tried the same approach to the task. All of the previous books that I have used for writing have been more scientific and written from the standpoint of writing workshop. You followed a set plan on how to write. If you didn't understand, then you shouldn't be a writter.Levine has created a book that gets you involved with the process of writing. She draws you in with her worlds. At times it doesn't feel like this would be considered non-fiction. That is how she gets you. You forget that you will be writting anything because she makes it so easy.

An interesting take on the creation on the Macy's Thanksgivings day parade. This book is full of interesting notes and artwork that is intergrated into each page. Each of these pages gives the story more life than the traditional childrens books full of just pictures and text.