Edward Garboczi
Tag: Book Review
In a child’s book journey, two milestones are: the first chapter book read to them and the first chapter book that they can read for themselves. Usually, we think about this milestone applying to fiction, since there are many easy-to-read chapter books for children. Clyde Robert Bulla’s books are a great example. However, for non-fiction, I feel that there is sometimes less of an assortment available, with an exception being The Step-Up Book series. These are well-written, with large type and lovely illustrations, first chapter books that tell the story of a person or part of history.
Two titles that are particularly good are Meet the Men Who Sailed the Seas, by John Dyment, and The Adventures of Lewis and Clark, by Ormonde de Kay. The Seven Seas book describes ocean explorers and adventurers from ancient times to about 1900. These voyages truly made our modern world. The men who undertook these voyages were brave, resourceful men, some of whom will not be familiar even to adults. Imagine the isolation of these voyages. These men were far more on their own and out of contact with home than were the first Apollo lunar explorers, who were farther away from home and equally unable to be rescued in case of trouble but were always in radio contact with people back on earth. The Adventures of Lewis and Clark tells the story of the expedition sent out in 1804 by President Thomas Jefferson, led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to explore the immense territory of the Louisiana Purchase. This Step-Up book is the perfect introduction, for an elementary school reader, to the Captains’ many adventures and to the importance of their discoveries. Fifteen states came out of the Louisiana Purchase, all directly linked back to the Lewis and Clark expedition.
For these next three books, I would put them at a 2nd-4th grade reading level, but that is only approximate, since an older child can also enjoy them and learn from them.
How North and South America were found, explored, and then settled is really important to understand to begin knowing the history of our country. Appreciation of some of the mainly nomadic people who were here before the Europeans, the Native Americans, is also important to set the context for this story of exploration and settlement. The overall story of finding, exploring, and settling America, like all stories in this fallen world, is not perfect. But Meet Christopher Columbus, Meet the Pilgrim Fathers, and Meet North American Indian, gives the elementary child a good introduction to these topics. Columbus and the other two groups have a lot more to them than is usually talked about in the modern world.
The men we know as the Founding Fathers, those who were instrumental in leading us to independence from Great Britain, are thought to be special men. Not only did they lead us to freedom, they put together a constitution and government that has lasted for 250 years. Three of these men, from the oldest to the youngest, were Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. The three StepUp books, Meet Benjamin Franklin, Meet George Washington, and Meet Thomas Jefferson, do a great job in introducing the young reader to the inspiring stories of these ordinary human beings who rose to the occasion to do an extraordinary job starting and strengthening the United States of America.
Benjamin Franklin was our first internationally known scientist and his inventive genius produced many items of great use to the late 1700s American society. Thomas Jefferson was the principal writer of the Declaration of Independence, which states that our rights come from God, not government. This was the first time it was ever so stated in the history of the world, and our freedom depends on this belief. And finally, I cannot imagine how the United States could have come into existence without George Washington: the victorious general of the Revolution, the president of the Constitutional Convention, and the first president who set the example for the forty-six to follow him. I have travelled to the Black Hills of South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, which contains enormous carvings of the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, probably our four greatest presidents. It is a spectacular place. The StepUp books Meet Abraham Lincoln and Meet Theodore Roosevelt complete the telling of the four men depicted in gigantic detail on the slopes of Mount Rushmore.
Abraham Lincoln, a man with humble origins, led us through the tragic Civil War, which brought freedom to about four million African-American slaves. Theodore Roosevelt, from a wealthy and influential background, led America into the 20th century and international influence. He read several books per day and published around thirty in his lifetime, which only lasted sixty years. Roosevelt was instrumental in promoting the national park system and conserving natural beauty for people to appreciate over the years. Not knowing Lincoln and Roosevelt means not understanding a large chunk of U.S. history.
What is a child’s first scientific interest – wildlife! Little children love animals and birds and fish. An interest in these creatures, designed and made by the mind and hand of God, can often lead the child into other areas of science. The three StepUp books, Animals Do the Strangest Things, Fish Do the Strangest Things, and Birds Do the Strangest Things, are a wonderful introduction to the amazing creatures God has made. They focus on little-known aspects of creatures that display their wonders. The books are not explicitly Christian, but parents can easily use these books as a springboard to discuss the Lord’s creative power.
The Story of Flight tells about a great achievement, powered, controlled heavier-than-air flight, made by Wilbur and Orville Wright. Why this book goes together well with the three previous ones is that the Wright Brothers’ inspiration for flight was the birds and insects and mammals that fly. They thought that if so many different body designs were capable of flight, with the right kind of equipment human beings should be able to fly, too!