Written to be read like a story-book. It reminds me of my 6th grade teacher's reading to us at Salk Elementary, in Anaheim, California, 1961-62, Mrs. Marion Sylvester Kacey. She read us Van Loon's History of the World; she also read a lot of other great books. She showed us slides from her trip to the Soviet Union during the time our U-2 pilot was being held there (even showed us a picture of the prison he was being kept at which she disguised in a "tourist" picture of a fountain or something). She took us seriously. She thought we were "citizens" and that we should know about the world. This book seems to be written with the idea in mind that American kids could not afford to grow up ignorant. Note the interesting date.