Rosalyn SchanzerCritiques

4/5

very good - Katrina

Too much info dumping for me.

A great non-fiction read for ages 10-14 (per the publisher), but I would say that it's more like an YA book, mainly because of the vocabulary. It's a very smooth read and I enjoyed this book very much. The black, white, and red ink drawings were also excellent. 238 pages

The illustrations are colorful and bring to life both sides of the American Revolution. The narrative introduces the two enemies, both named George: George Washington, and King George III. The two leaders are on different sides of the Atlantic, and yet have more in common than we sometimes realize. It is set up with headings/chapters to separate the text into sections.

There are two sides to every story!

With excellent graphics and histor - ical information, this book offers a fresh look at the Salem Witch Tri - als from all sides

Recommended by book club (Brita, Alicia, Cora)

This clever concept shows both sides' view of how the American Revolution began, played out, and ended, taking the perspective of both George Washington and King George III, from 1763 until the Treaty of Paris 1783 (the Afterword explains what both Georges did after that).

Though the format is a picture book, this material is intended for older readers; the author covers tarring and feathering, soldiers' raping and murdering civilians, and maltreatment of prisoners (starvation, etc.). Informative illustrations, direct quotes, and the occasional map enhance the text.

Back matter includes an Afterword ("What ever happened to King George III?" and "What did George Washington do next?"), acknowledgments, bibliography, quote sources, and an index; there is no timeline, which would have been a helpful thing to include.

This book is a truthful narrative about Benjamin Franklin. The title is amazing because it hooks the reader into the story. The author, Schanzer, does a great job explaining the various inventions that Ben Franklin made. In the beginning, Schanzer asks the reader how they think that he stole the lightening, which gets the reader thinking as they are reading. I also really like this book because it describes the inventions and then what the people who make those are called. For instance, Schanzer tells the reader what an electrician does. For so many reasons, this is an excellent book. I think that Schanzer does a great job giving narrative background for who Ben Franklin does and then at the end of the book, explains how he "stole" the lightening, giving background to the invention of the lightening rod. The pedagogy for this lesson that could be included could be space science and earth science.

This book has great images! While it does give a present a story like version of historical events, mentions conflict here and there; I do not think it is entirely factual. It focuses a lot on the Native Americans as they were a major part of the Louisiana Purchase, however while it does show that there were conflicts it doesn't necessarily explain how or if they were resolved. It just shows they had disagreements then were fine. This might be a little confusing to the students if they were to actually think about the events.

00011061

I like this book because it gives two side to the story. On the side of the Americans, we are strong and independent. On the side of the British, we are ungrateful and spoiled. I think that it is good for students to be able to find counter arguments to the things that they have learned in their classes through out the year.

973.3

The story "How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning" is a great book that tells the story of Ben Franklin and many of his inventions growing up. The story tells us that his first invention was when he was only eleven. I think this a great message to tell students because it tells them that even at a young age they can do great things. It tells us about how much of an impact Ben Franklin's inventions had on people, especially the electricity and the light bulb. I really enjoyed this book because it gave a backstory to Ben Franklin's life as well as telling us about his success. I would read this to my class.½

Witches! is a very educational book. I find that a lot of books about true history are boring. Witches! was definitely not boring. The exact opposite of boring. I learned new facts about the Salem Witch Trials. I was also able to understand some of the 'witch stories' from my previous knowledge. This book by Rosalyn Schanzer went into the details of a few Witch Trial events. I would recommend this nonfiction book to higher elementary and middle school students.

This is a National Geographic book, that was inspired by the actual journals and letters written by Lewis and Clark. I wasn't particularly fond of it, but my students enjoyed it.

This book followed Darwin's 4 year journey and captured all his adventures. It showed all the animals he found along the way and what he wrote about them. The book then goes into Darwin's theory of evolution and the evidence he used to back it up. At the end of the book there is a map with all the locations Darwin stopped throughout his journey.

Fun but imprecise.½

A relatively short look at the witch trials. Some quite interesting information on the background and references to transcripts. A good little read if you enjoy reading about the history of witches or instances of accusations. I read it because I am fascinated by the 'mass hysteria' type phenomenon often cited and the cultural history behind this phenomenon. It is interesting to try and place yourself in a mindset where something such as spectral evidence was legitimate to an argument.

Nonfiction account of the Salem witch trials, written for middle readers.

An illustrated and informational, nonfiction account of Lewis and Clark's adventure west

An illustrated nonfiction account of young Charles Darwin's voyage to the Galapagos Islands.

LET THEIR BE LIGHTning !!!!!!!!!!

Summary:
Ben Franklin was a musician, a printer, a cartoonist, a politician, a soldier, a shopkeeper, and a world traveler. Ben even helped write the Declarations of Independence AND the Constitution of the U.S. !!! Ben was a very busy man.
Ben was a very helpful guy. He created and invented things to make his town a better place such as the first library which rented out books, the first post office which delivered mail to people's houses, and a fire department! He wrote books about when the next eclipse was going to happen along with books about what time of the year was best to plant certain crops.
Ben Franklin did many, many things to improve the quality of life in America, but one of the most important things he did was figuring out how electricity worked by flying a kite during a storm. This is how Ben stole lightning out of the sky.

About the book:
The end-papers have images of Ben Franklin's original drawings which show many different ideas. (Found in The Author's Note). This book also includes more facts about Ben and a list of some of his scientific work on the last pages in the Author's Note.

What a phenomenal read to share with my boys! A terrific, simplified explanation of the world that led up to and engaged in the Revolutionary War. The facts and quotes were woven with moving language bringing the reality of King George and George Washington to life. I had to correct a minor point that could be misconstrued by impressionable young minds, but that's my job and I'm fine doing that, since the book simply states history the way we've taught it for over 200 years. Very nicely done overall.

This story takes place during World War two in Poland. I liked this book for several reasons. One reason I liked this books was because of the language the author used. It was descriptive and full of literary devises to keep the reader interested. For example, the author uses the words "towering tangles of wildflowers danced beside the winding dirt roads" to describe the village the characters escaped from. The characters were another reason I enjoyed this book so much. For example, the character Abba was well developed and believable. For example, he began dancing and singing in front of the guards as they had guns pointed at him. A final reason I liked this book was for the colorful and vivid pictures that really captured the major events of the story. I believe the message of this story is that you must go through hardships to achieve a better life.

This book is so funny, but it also contains so much information - about BOTH sides of the war. Sometimes in the states we like to only focus how we see historical events, and I would love to use this book in my classroom to show students that there really are two sides to every story.