Reviews (3)

Great book!
This is a good resource on the Revolutionary War.It not only has good pictures but it also has great activities to make the history that you are learning come alive.

Excellent
This book is an excellent introduction to the American Revolution.Children will undoubtedly find it entertaining and activities like making a tricorne hat or hunting shirt enjoyable.The American Revolution was one of the most important times in world history. Readers will clearly grasp this, and along the way, they will be treated to amusing incidents or myths like Israel Putnam's powderkeg duel.Although there are minor errors concerning the military aspects, they do not detract from the narrative.The book's greatest strength is in dealing with the political aspect of the war, showing the origins of English liberty at the beginning of the book - and the framing of the Constitution at the end.

Fun activities for teaching the American Revolution to kids
"The American Revolution for Kids: A History with 21 Activities" sets up the two complementary halves of Janis Herbert's book right in the title.On the one hand we have a fairly detailed history of the American Revolution for young students, with much more of a sense of the ebb and flow of the war itself, in terms of the specific battles, than they will find in their history textbooks.On the other hand there are almost two dozen activities, which will give kids a chance to make this particular period of American history come alive.Read more

Subjects:  1. Activity programs    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Children: Grades 4-6    5. History    6. History - Military & Wars    7. History - United States/Colonial & Revolutionary    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. Revolution, 1775-1783    11. Study and teaching    12. United States    13. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars    14. World history: c 1500 to c 1900    15. Childrens: Activity   

Reviews (6)

Got out of knights
It was pretty good, but it was kind of showing out of the knight period.They wrote a lot about castles and it was titled knights.This bothered me.I really liked how it showed what a knight has as his duty.

Interest your children in REAL history
DK eyewitness books are some of the greatest non-fiction books around. The distinctive white background and high-quality photography gives this book an edge over any other nonfiction picture book. And -- these pictures are real! They're beautiful museum-quality photos of all things related to knights, accompanied by informative captions and text. Captured his interest for days!He keeps going back to it.
My 10 year old son is fascinated with all things midevil.This book shows the armor, weopons, and lifestyle of knights.The photos are excellent andthe copy is interesting.Your child may need a little help with some ofthe vocabulary. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 4-6    3. Civilization, Medieval    4. History - Medieval    5. History - Military & Wars    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Juvenile literature    8. Knights and knighthood    9. Reference - General    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars   

Reviews (14)

Good Starter or Refresher but MANY errors
I finished this textbook-like book recently although at several points I almost put it down due to the continual errors that I attribute to both the author and the editor. As others have mentioned, there are simply too many silly errors-- such as the refloating of the first 'Lexington' in late 1943, the reappearance of the 'Shoho' long after it was sunk, or the Hellcat divebomber (F6F Hellcats could divebomb but the plane was designated a 'fighter'). Some of these errors were so egregious that I laughed out loud. Every several pages there was a goof regarding a name, place, or equipment.
Replete With Errors
I am currently reading a 1st Edition of this book. After reading only the first 150 pages I have found numerous errors in the spelling of proper names as well as several utterly stupid historical errors. For example: the author has "Ashai Sinbun" instead of Asahi Shinbun; "Simonoseki" instead of Shimonoseki; "Matsungaga" instead of Matsunaga. More important are the historical mistakes. During his description of the Pearl Harbor attack he refers to information being sent back to Admiral Yamamoto who, according to Costello, was 5000 miles away ABOARD THE AKAGI!!!. He doesn't even know that the Akagi was one of the 6 [Japanese] carriers involved in the strike on Pearl. Actually, Yamamoto was aboard his flagship the Yamato at the time. Later he discusses the Jap attack on Clark Field in the Philippines and says that our planes "retreated to Luzon"! Well duh. Clark Field is on Luzon. At one point he erroneously substitutes the name Nagumo (the admiral commanding the Pearl Harbor strike force) for Admiral Nagano, the Navy Minister. Later, when describing the [Japanese] occupation of the Isle of Batan north of Luzon in early December 1941 he mistakenly calls it "Bataan", which of course was the peninsula to which the Americans retreated after the [Japanese] landed on Luzon. And all these errors are in the first 150 pages! I could go on, but why bother. Perhaps later editions of the book have corrected these ridiculous mistakes. If not, I can only wonder at Amazon's claiming that this book is considered the best single volume history of the Pacific War available.
Thorough coverage of the war
I just re-read this book and found it hard to put down.Costello writes well, and he obviously has some fascinating history to work with.The slow movement of the allies from sheer desperation in 1942 to overwhelming superiority in 1945 is well described.The fighting in Malaya, Burma, China, and New Guinea, often overlooked in favor of the "glamor battles" such as Midway and Coral Sea, is covered pretty thoroughly.Read more

Subjects:  1. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    2. History - General    3. History - Military / War    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Military - World War II    6. Pacific Ocean    7. World War, 1939-1945    8. Australasian & Pacific history: Second World War    9. History / Military / World War II    10. Warfare & Defence   

Editorial Review

Take an eyewitness view of the complexities, atrocities, and heroics of war with Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Intro to WWII for Kids!
Another good book in the Eyewitness Series.This book does a good job of condensing the vast amount of information available on WWII and, as usual, the pictures tell the story in an interesting way for children.We collect Eyewitness Books and my kids were so glad to see this book and the others on WWI, the Civil War and the American Revolution. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 4-6    3. History - Military & Wars    4. History - United States/20th Century    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. World War, 1939-1945    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars   

Reviews (6)

Great Book
I teach fourth grade and my students loved this book. I used it while teaching a unit on the Civil War. The students were enthralled. I found them asking me for the book during their free time!!!

Civil War made real for kids in special education
I recently used this book with my students who have both learning disabilities and emotional disturbances. I used it in conjuction with the state mandated US History book. I found the extra information I was able to inteject into my lectures to be interesting. My students enjoyed the extra tidbits. They gathered around the book to look at the 9 year-old soldier. They wrote letters as if they were soldiers with the ink they made from the book's recipe. I think it helped to enrich the Civil War lessons I had planned. I recommend this book to other teachers. With a little tweaking, I think that the activities are appropriate for students in elementary school as well as in high school.

A concise history of the Civil War and 21 activities
The two main elements of "The Civil War for Kids: A History With 21 Activities" work independently of each other.In the main text Janis Herbert provides a concise history of the Civil War that provides a more in-depth look at that period of American history than what young students are likely to find in their textbooks at school.Herbert begins with the turmoil preceding succession and the first shots fired at Fort Sumter, the battles fought on land and seas, up to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.The text is supplemented with dozens of sidebar stories providing details on everything from Lincoln's beard and Johnny Clem to what Army engineers did and what "Chickamaugua" meant.The book is illustrated with historic photographs and drawings, as well as battlefield maps.There is a time-line of the Civil War up front and a glossary, guide to officers, list of resources, bibliography and index in the back.Read more

Subjects:  1. Activity programs    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Civil War, 1861-1865    5. Handicraft    6. History    7. History - Military & Wars    8. History - United States/19th Century    9. History - United States/General    10. Juvenile Nonfiction    11. Juvenile literature    12. Study and teaching    13. United States    14. American history: c 1500 to c 1900    15. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars    16. USA   

Reviews (5)

Bravo!
Bravo, Joy Hakim! History was never really enjoyable for me-not boring, just not really captivating. This book, number 9 in A History of US, is my favorite so far. The others were really well done, and I enjoyed them, too.
Not Perfect, but Pretty Darned Good
American kids have a hard enough time caring about the post-Vietnam era. For an author to make the years from 1918 to 1945 come alive, and particularly the Great Depression, is a feat indeed. Hakiim has accomplished it with this book. The criticisms about its sympathies to Communism are well-taken, but a good middle or high school teacher can remedy that in short order, or simply assign selected chapters instead of having kids read all the way through from start to finish. I have had students tell me that they are reading this volume for enjoyment, which is also a remarkable feat.

Buyer Beware
I doubt there's any US History textbooks more excitingly written for kids age 9-12 than Joy Hakim's.(This series is the one used in one of the best private schools in Silicon Valley.)They're glossy and beautiful, and well-nigh irresistible.What an incredible shame. What's the problem? The problem is they contain a version of history so slanted as to amount to an utterly shameless propagandizing of children.I'm a liberal atheist, but, really, these books should be sealed into a time capsule, to entertain future historians.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1898-1919    2. 1901-1953    3. 1919-1933    4. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    5. Children: Grades 2-3    6. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    7. History    8. History - Military & Wars    9. History - United States/20th Century    10. History - United States/General    11. Juvenile Nonfiction    12. Juvenile literature    13. United States    14. History, American    15. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / United States / 20th Century   

Reviews (3)

DK Formula Brings Another Great Topic Introduction
DK has a great formula for introducing topics to kids. Beautiful graphics, excellent layout and good summaries of important facts surrounding their topics.
Another beautiful DK book!
DK is great at creating books full of high-quality photos. This book includes great photos of Civil War soldiers in their uniforms. It also has photos of soldiers lying dead on a battlefield and a Southern home riddled with holes from canon fire, photos I had never seen in my history books. It has good, close-up photos and drawings of the guns, grenades, hardtack biscuits and other everyday items used by soldiers back then. Very interesting!

The DK Eyewitness series takes on the entire Civil War
I think that with the topic of the Civil War the DK Eyewitness Book series has met its match.The goal of these wonderfully illustrated books is to give readers the equivalent of going to a museum, albeit one that is able to collect photographs, paintings, and artifacts from dozens of choice sources.However, when you are dealing with a topic as large as the Civil War all you can really do is scratch the surface and provide readers with a general introduction."Civil War" is definitely not the first book a young student would turn to for information about the topic, but for those whose previous readings have kindled a passion for this pivotal period in American history this book will be a treat, primarily in its depiction of artifacts.Young Civil War buffs will already be familiar with the portraits of the Union and Confederate generals, and many of the photographs and etchings will be familiar from other illustrated works.Consequently, they will find the contemporary photographs of priceless historic artifacts to more interesting that the familiar period illustrations.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1861-1865, Civil War    2. Children's 9-12 - History - Military / War    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    4. Children: Grades 4-6    5. Civil War, 1861-1865    6. History    7. History - Military & Wars    8. History - United States/Civil War    9. Juvenile Nonfiction    10. Juvenile literature    11. United States    12. History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)   

Reviews (5)

One Thousand Paper Cranes... inspirational!
Are you the type or reader who enjoys reading about real people who fight through tough situations? Well, then this book is for you to read. This wonderful book was about a girl named Sadako who got radiation from the atomic bomb in World War II when she was only two years old. Sadako really loved school and was on a Bamboo Relay Team at her school. She had a race and when she was running, she started to get dizzy. She went to the hospital and turns out, she got the Atomic Bomb Disease. Sadako was really scared to die at a young age of 12 years old. Her friend came to visit her in the hospital, and she told Sadako that if you fold 1000 paper cranes, you get a wish from the gods. That made Sadako determined to fold 1000 paper cranes.
One Thousand Paper Cranes : The Story of Sadako and the Children's Peace Statue
The theme of the book is that war kills innocent people and dropping an atomic bomb is unconscionable act that must never be repeated.The author actually went to Japan and stayed with Sadako's family in order research this book.It is well written.This book supplements the Eleanor Coerr version of the story.It gives additional information about what Sadako's leukemia was like for her and her family.

Memorable and heartbreaking...
...this is the kind of book that continues to haunt you long after you put it down.I read this book in elementary school and then stumbled across it as an adult - even re-reading it as an adult, I was shocked by the descriptions of the damage done by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Read more

Subjects:  1. Atomic bomb    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 2-3    4. History - Asia    5. History - Military & Wars    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Juvenile literature    8. Leukemia    9. Leukemia in children    10. People & Places - Asia    11. Physiological effect    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / People & Places / Asia   

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Children's 12-Up - History - Military / War    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. History    5. History - Military & Wars    6. History - United States/19th Century    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. Military art and science    10. Military history, Modern   

Editorial Review

Packed with photos (color and black-and-white), maps, personal stories, and concise, readabledescriptions of the major events of World War II, bestselling author Stephen E. Ambrose's Read more

Reviews (14)

The good fight - how world war ii was won
Purchased as a gift - person likes the works and is quite a history buff.

Be careful, book full of errors
This book has nice pictures but book makes some major errors. I would not recommend it to any youth for this reason. For example, there is a photo on page 41 with a caption saying that the men in the photo are marines in Tarawa. First off, they are not marines - they are army men (you can tell by the uniform) & secondly, the photo was taken in Makin which is part of the same atol as Tarawa but is technically not Tarawa. Ok, fine... I can normally let something like that slip by. But what is worse is when you turn to the map on page 9, it indicates the Pearl Harbor attack as Dec. 7, 1943. I had to close the book and toss it into the nearest wastebasket after reading this. If editors were sleepy enough to let this slip by, it seriously brings to question the veracity of what is said in other points of the book. I am not talking about them getting the date wrong in some obscure minor battle, but they got the date wrong with PEARL HARBOR - come on now!

The Best Book For Research
I was writing a research paper on world war two, and was required to have 6 sources, but only needed one.No Joke...GReat info packed book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - History - Military / War    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. History - Holocaust    5. History - Military & Wars    6. History - United States/20th Century    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. United States    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. Juvenile Fiction / Historical / Military & Wars   

Reviews (1)

A must have for every Navy family!
I love this book!If you have a child that loves all-things Navy (planes, ships, submarines, etc.) then they will love it, too!The pictures are beautiful (paintings done from photographs) and the pages that represent each letter are so clever!Where else can you teach your child the English alphabet, semaphore and the phonetic alphabet (from alpha to zulu) all in one book?
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Subjects:  1. Alphabet    2. Alphabet books    3. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    4. Children: Grades 3-4    5. Concepts - Alphabet    6. English language    7. History - Military & Wars    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature   

Reviews (1)

Excellent reference!
This book really brought World War I to life.I was surprised at how little I really knew about this war.This may be billed as a kid's book, but people of all ages will enjoy it.It's a great source for learning a lot about the war in a short period of time.The entire Eyewitness series is worth checking out. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 4-6    3. History - Military & Wars    4. History - United States/20th Century    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. World War, 1914-1918    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars   

Reviews (1)

An excellent and unusual overview in verse and music.
This collection of Civil War stories and songs may hold lyrics and a sheet music to such notables as Dixie's Land, but it also holds plenty of background history, making it more a history presentation than another songbook. From the practice of fitting new words to existing melodies during the war to the historical background covered in the songs themselves, this provides an excellent and unusual overview of how Civil War history is reflected in verse and music. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Children's 9-12 - History - General    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    4. Children: Grades 4-6    5. Civil War, 1861-1865    6. History    7. History - Military & Wars    8. History - United States/19th Century    9. History and criticism    10. Juvenile Nonfiction    11. Juvenile literature    12. Music    13. Music and the war    14. Songbooks - Popular    15. United States    16. Non-Classifiable   

Subjects:  1. Alphabet books    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 1-2    4. Concepts - Alphabet    5. Dictionaries    6. Families of military personnel    7. Family - General    8. Handbooks, manuals, etc    9. History - Military & Wars    10. History - United States/General    11. Juvenile Nonfiction    12. Juvenile literature   

Subjects:  1. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)    2. History - Military & Wars    3. History - Military / War    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Military - World War I    6. World War, 1914-1918    7. First World War, 1914-1918    8. Humanities    9. World history: First World War   

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. History    4. History - Military & Wars    5. History - Other    6. History - United States/Colonial & Revolutionary    7. History, Military    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. King William's War, 1689-1697    11. Queen Anne's War, 1702-1713    12. To 1900    13. United States    14. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / United States / Colonial & Revolutionary Periods   

Reviews (8)

A review from a 12 year old
I thought this was an amazing book. It talks about all the others out there who were affected by Hitler, showing it was not only the Jews who were affected and killed, but many others, like the homosexuals, gypsies, ect. The book offers many different opinions and people, and I thought it was an amazing and saddening book.

Pity
Pity this book is out of print, for it is worth remembering that many millions of non Jews were enslaved and persecuted by the Nazis, the majority of whom were (as recently scholarship confirms) Ukrainians.

my review
The Other Victims was a book of real life stories from the Holocaust.I liked this book because it tells how people had to go into hiding, how they had no freedom, and how they fought back.The book is mainly about people trying to escape from Germany to America or a safe country. My favorite chapter was Bubili: a young Gypsy's fight for survival.Once I started to read this book I couldn't put it down. The reason I couldn't put this book down was it was all true. I thought it was hard to believe it actually happened. The people were killed because of their religion, color, looks, and trying to stop the wrong that was going on. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atrocities    2. Children's Books/Young Adult Misc. Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. History - General    5. History - Military & Wars    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Juvenile literature    8. Participation, Juvenile    9. Personal narratives    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. European history: from c 1900 -    12. Germany    13. Human & civil rights    14. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    15. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / General    16. Second World War, 1939-1945   

Reviews (2)

The people, places, battles, and weapons of America's Indochina struggle
By the time I got my draft card the Vietnam War was just about over; besides I am deaf in one ear so they were never going to take me and making any sort of decision was a moot point.Today what I find interesting that is although I basically lived through the Vietnam War, I do not have the same sense of what happened during the war that has defined all American military action ever since that I do for the Civil War or World War II.For that matter, I think I have a better understanding of the chronology of the American Revolution and Desert Storm than I do of the war in Vietnam.Fortunately, this Eyewitness Books volume devoted to the "Vietnam War" helps me move a bit beyond the sketchy understanding I had when I open the book (basically, something that happened in the Gulf of Tonkin was used as an excuse to escalate American military involvement, the corrupt government of South Vietnam fell, the Tet offensive surprised everybody, Nixon bombed enemy troops in Cambodia, there was a massacre at My Lai, and we left by helicopters).
Helping our children understand the Vietnam War
Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I was very aware of the Vietnam War. I was not old enough to be a warrior or a peace activitst. However, I watched and read a lot about the war. Even at a young age, I knew enough to get information from different points of view.
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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. History - Military & Wars    5. History - United States/19th Century    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Juvenile literature    8. Vietnam War, 1961-1975    9. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars   

Reviews (3)

EXCELLENT WORK - WELL PRESENTED
This work is a quick view of the Vietnam War.The photography is excellent and the author has done an great job explaining several different aspects of this particular war.Our children (in my case grandchildren) need to know of this conflict and what this country went through during those times.War is bad and our children should know this. Each generation seems to have it's own war and perhaps if we start teaching our children early enough, they may, lets hope, be able to avoid thier own someday in the future.Having been in this particular one, I did feel the author treated the material rather well, and tried, with the limited space here, to give a fare account of what happend, when it happened, and why.Recommend this one highly.

In short, everything a young researcher needs to know about the war
Kids in grades 5-7 will find 10,000 Days Of Thunder to be a readily accessible survey of the Vietnam War which explores a war which lasted ten thousand days, sparking riots and controversy across America. Here are anecdotes from soldier and civilians, profiles of the actions of leaders, antiwar movements, and sidebars of quick facts paired with full-page maps, black and white and some color photos, and a dynamic coverage of key campaigns and battles: in short, everything a young researcher needs to know about the war.
Richie's Picks: 10,000 DAYS OF THUNDER
"Last electric Sunday morning,
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Subjects:  1. Asia - Southeast Asia    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    5. History - General History    6. History - Military & Wars    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. United States    10. Vietnam War, 1961-1975    11. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Military & Wars   

Reviews (2)

Must have book
If you are teaching about the war in Iraq at any grade level this is a book you must have. Written in comic book format it is edgy enough to engage high school students and simple enough for upper elementary students to understand. It raises very fundamental questions about what we value and offers rich potential for classroom discussion. It has been reprinted in Arabic. Does Amazon have access to the Arabic version?

Beautiful book
This book is topical and beautfully illustrated. It is an excellent book to introduce children to the war in Iraq in a nonpolitical way and to break some stereotypes: I appreciated the strong but caring Muslim woman and the men who helped her. Adults will enjoy reading this book with their children, too, because of the good story and the wonderful drawings. (I am a child psychology professor). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Baker, Alia Muhammad    2. Basrah    3. Baòsrah    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography - Historical    6. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    7. Children: Grades 1-2    8. Destruction and pillage    9. History - Military & Wars    10. Iraq    11. Iraq War, 2003-    12. Juvenile Nonfiction    13. Juvenile literature    14. Librarians    15. Libraries    16. People & Places - Middle East    17. Juvenile Fiction / General