《书目》(Booklist)书评

Gr. 3^-6. The Our People series is a mixed bag. On one hand, the volumes are quite attractive--plenty of white space, interesting color and black-and-white images, and short enough to be manageable by younger middle-graders. But the compact text also leads to some questions and some information that does not necessarily hang together. For instance, "Susan's father was a Quaker, and he was stern with his children," is a statement that simply isn't clearly linked to the rest of the information about Quakers presented in a two-page insert, "Life of Quakers." In Joseph, the descriptions of the Nez Perce's last stand against the government are truncated, and it's not clear how the chief's thoughts about fighting evolved. The informational inserts add to the text, but they are somewhat disruptive. Consider these books as introductions, but have other books on hand to answer the questions these raise. A glossary and very brief bibliography (with one Web site) are appended. Ilene Cooper