THE SIDE-BY-SIDE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

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THE SIDE-BY-SIDE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Name: THE SIDE-BY-SIDE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Author: David Miles
ISBN: 978-1-638190-48-6

From the Great Documents Collection series

by David Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 2021

A hardworking addition to U.S. history shelves.

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In 1776, some of the most respected men in Great Britain’s American Colonies signed the Declaration of Independence, a revolutionary—but not necessarily transparent—document.

Although the declaration is one of the key documents of American history, its sometimes-archaic language may mystify young citizens of the 21st century. After a few pages of introductory information that describes the conflicts faced by colonists before the Revolutionary War, this effort presents the declaration line by line, explaining the concepts, defining confusing words and ideas, and illuminating the intent of the signers in the context of the time. Occasionally, in sections headed “Think Deeper,” the author asks pointed, thoughtful questions on a variety of issues that have never been fully resolved in the past 245 years, without devolving into revisionist history. The format places original text on verso with the translation on recto, but clever design keeps readers engaged. The double-page spreads are neatly laid out, many including portraits of Founding Fathers presented against appealing, brightly colored backgrounds that vary from spread to spread. A variety of maps, cartoon characters, and period illustrations extend the text. With a reading level appropriate to the upper grade schoolers who are often introduced to this tumultuous period of history, this engaging and surprisingly entertaining effort seems like the perfect choice to accompany and expand lesson plans. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A hardworking addition to U.S. history shelves. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-638190-48-6

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Bushel & Peck Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY

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I LOVE YOU, LITTLE TRUCK
by David Miles & Stephanie Miles ; illustrated by Natasha Molins

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ATOM
by David Miles ; illustrated by David Miles

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CLIMATE CHANGE, THE CHOICE IS OURS
by David Miles ; translated by Mark Polizzotti

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OIL

by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2020

Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care.

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In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there.

The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer’s sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth “all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year” in “what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou.” The scale of extraction is huge: There’s “a giant pipeline” leading to “enormous ships.” Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. “But if you lift a rock… // oil / seeps / up.” For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child?

Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)

Pub Date: March 31, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5344-3077-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRD REHEARSAL
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Stacy Innerst

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW MAN
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LITTLE OWL & THE BIG TREE
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

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GHOST TOWNS OF THE AMERICAN WEST

by Raymond Bial ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001

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Bial (A Handful of Dirt, p. 299, etc.) conjures up ghostly images of the Wild West with atmospheric photos of weathered clapboard and a tally of evocative names: Tombstone, Deadwood, Goldfield, Progress, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickock, the OK Corral. Tracing the life cycle of the estimated 30,000 ghost towns (nearly 1300 in Utah alone), he captures some echo of their bustling, rough-and-tumble past with passages from contemporary observers like Mark Twain: “If a man wanted a fight on his hands without any annoying delay, all he had to do was appear in public in a white shirt or stove-pipe hat, and he would be accommodated.” Among shots of run-down mining works, dusty, deserted streets, and dark eaves silhouetted against evening skies, Bial intersperses 19th-century photos and prints for contrast, plus an occasional portrait of a grizzled modern resident. He suggests another sort of resident too: “At night that plaintive hoo-hoo may be an owl nesting in a nearby saguaro cactus—or the moaning of a restless ghost up in the graveyard.” Children seeking a sense of this partly mythic time and place in American history, or just a delicious shiver, will linger over his tribute. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)