Customer Reviews

Christopher Columbus (Step-Into-Reading, Step 3)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Hi. This book is nice and informative without being too long and boring. It will most likely appeal to children around 5 or 6 through about 9 or 10. After that, they may want to read another, more in depth biography about this remarkable and fearless sailor and explorer.
The illustrations are realistic and well done.
I, as a parent, felt that the ending was a bit weak, but children will certainly gain a better understanding and clearer picture of the explorer, and his sacrifices, upon reading this book. Wording is simple and uncomplicated. A step 2 book.
Good information, good book.

I must admit, my kindergartener and I are great fans of the Step Into Reading series of books. Since my daughter had completed the Step 2 books in the Step Into Reading series of books, I decided to go ahead and purchase the Step 3 books. I was a bit hesitant because I noticed there is quite a big leap between the Step 2 and Step 3 books, especially in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure. The vocabulary is more advanced with higher order words, and the sentences are longer. I was also concerned that my daughter might not like the topics which seemed to be more 'academic' with history-based stories. My worries were unfounded. She loves the books and is reading them with very little help from me (and I enjoy listening to the stories!)

These books are excellent for building children's reading skills as well as increasing their confidence in reading. Once you've completed the Step 1 and Step 2 books (I would advise proceeding level by level), the Step 3 books are not as daunting as they might first appear. In "Christopher Columbus", young readers (intermediate level) will delight in the adventures of Columbus and his crew, enhanced by vivid, full color illustrations.

I can't recommend these books highly enough - they are great for building reading skills, and also educational. This book is a great introduction to Columbus for children ages 5 and up.

Early readers, slightly advanced readers, this fairly short book is interesting and informative. If your kid needs to grasp history a little better, this is a book to look at. It's done in a way that kids enjoy and actually pay attention to. Worth the money, easily.

1st or 2nd graders -- this is good for a biography book report. Surprisingly good illustrations -- this covers Columbus's first voyage.

First of all, the Amazon listing is mistaken. This is a Step 2 book as you can see if you look at the cover and the title page. It is an error on Amazon's part to list it as a Step 3 book.

This book is a good overview of Christopher Columbus that is aimed at children in grades 1-3 who are ready to move past the most basic books into something slightly more difficult. The text is big with wide spacing between the lines. There are only a few sentences per 2-page spread with large colorful illustrations. Even with the basic writing style, the book manages to cover a lot of detail. Here's an example:

"More days go by. The sailors complain loudly. Who cares about finding a new route to the Indies? They just want to stay alive. Columbus must turn back now! If he does not, they will throw him overboard!"

For the people who care about such things, the topic of Columbus' interaction with the natives is handled in a very straightforward matter-of-fact way:

"There are people on the island. Columbus calls them Indians because he thinks he has reached the Indies. He names the island San Salvador. He says it now belongs to Spain. But the island really belongs to the people who live there.... [details of trading and friendly relations] .... Columbus has also forced six Indians to come with him. People in Spain have never seen Indians."

I would definitely recommend this book for early readers.