Customer Reviews

Don't Know Much About the 50 States

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read and reviewed many children's books in my 28 years as an elementary school librarian, and have found none with more glaringly inaccurate and unclear writing:Washington is the Evergreen State, not the "CHINOOK State", Mt.St. Helens did not have "LAVA" flows as the text says it did, the section about the state says that the Chinook winds are a "PAIR of winds" and does not explain what they are, they are warm winds that sometimes flow from east to west bringing warm air west. As a native of Washington, I began, and ended, reading in the section on our state. After reading the section I did not bother to check to see if the other states information was as inaccurate and poorly written, as I knew that I certainly would not want this book in any library nor in the hands of any children, dispite the vissual appeal.

Do you know which state has the largest cave system in the world, why Tennessee's nickname is the Volunteer State, or why North and South Dakota have the same name? What did Delaware do first, before any other state and why are more languages spoken in Oklahoma than in all of Europe? Do you know how many presidents were born in Ohio, whether there are really 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, or where you'd find a nodding donkey? The answers to these and hundreds of other questions can be found in Kenneth Davis' marvelously creative and inventive geography book, Don't Know Much About The 50 States. Written in an easy to read, conversational format, each page is dedicated to a single state, chock full of interesting trivia, fun facts and historical information and complemented by Renee Andriani's witty and expressive illustrations that just add to the fun. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, this is a book full of history, trivia and lots of surprises that whets the appetite, takes the stuffiness out of geography and makes learning fun. So find out in which two states wild Venus Fly Traps grow, and enjoy!

True this book does not go into great detail about the states, but if you want you children to get a start on learning about all fifty states this book is great. It gives some general facts about every state - state bird, capital, flower. It then gives a couple of interesting facts about each state. The author keeps the information short, to the point and intersting. It is a great book for kids 3-7. I would agree that 10-12 year olds maybe to old for this book.

... but very little real information. At 65 pages of large print and sprawling cartoons, rather devoid of anything exceptional.

I'd skip it and find something more informative for your child.

My 8.5 year old LOVES this book. I actually learned several facts I wasn't aware of. (Alaska is closer to Russia than it is to the rest of the United States for instance.) This book is no encyclopedia, but it's A LOT more fun to read than one!

There should beseveral pages of information about each state to make this book educational. It is not nearly enough for a 9-12 year old to learn from. That is why we are returning it.

I have found this book to be an excellent way to introduce ESL students to a study of the United States.......it gives them (students) a chance to tell more of what they know about the states and also an opportunity to become somewhat knowledgeable about the history of this country. They were surprised that the people called Americans came(immigrated legally and illegally)to this country. They were very surprised to know that the Native Americans owned the land.I would have liked the book to have had some type of evaluation (test) and reference guide to accompany this book.

Granted... this is a book for 9 to 12 year olds and I'm 28, but I still expected more than I got. In my quest for easy knowledge I picked up this little book hoping to get a quick overview of the different states. Like pointed out in previous reviews, I got a lot of fluff and not that much content. The information for some states was so trivial that it sounded like a joke. I guess I will have to wait for the guys from the "Everything You Need to Know About..." collection to do one about the 50 states.:)