Amazon.com Review
An excellent large-format guide to the nation's highest office, from Washington to Clinton, this book is designed for browsing rather than cover-to-cover reading. Much more than just a reference book,
Presidents is profusely illustrated with photographs, maps, political cartoons, and reproductions of famous paintings and documents--for example, Emanuel Leutze's
Washington Crossing the Delaware, and the Declaration of Independence. The text is broken up into simple blocks, many of them extended captions to the illustrations. Epoch-making figures like Lincoln and Roosevelt get a couple of double-page spreads each. Lesser presidents are covered two or three to a page (for example: Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, and Chester Arthur), but each one gets full dates and other basic information in a sidebar. (Ages 9 and older)
--Richard Farr
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-A look at each president in the context of his times: political campaigns, family, speeches, national and world events, scandals, and general facts. For most of the men, paragraph-length profiles and detailed captions provide commentary. Black-and-white and color drawings and reproductions, including portraits and artifacts from the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of American History, and the Smithsonian Institution, appear throughout. The pictorial emphasis makes this offering appealing and accessible to young and reluctant readers. While no individual receives more than four pages of attention (and many receive less), this title is sure to be a popular browsing item and may lead students to more informative biographies.
Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
