"A Picture Book of Patrick Henry" introduces young readers to the most famous orator of the American Revolution. Author David A. Adler tells the story of both Henry's life and his political career, which saw him elected as the first governor of Virginia. This juvenile biography also deals in a straight-forward manner with some of the unhappy events in Henry's life, such as the mental illness of his first wife and his arguments against adopting the Constitution. Consequently, readers will get a pretty good understanding of why Henry was an important figure in the American Revolution. Artists John and Alexandra Wallner provide attractive line-and-watercolor illustrations. The book includes an interesting Author's Note, in which Adler takes issue with biographer William Wirt's description of Henry and deals with Henry's ownership of slaves (Wirt was actually the one who "wrote" Henry's famous speech as part of his biography). Adler's Picture Book Biographies looks at over two dozen famous people including Simon Bolivar, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sitting Bull. This series looks like it is worth checking out.

This picture book is an excellent resource for children of any grade level. The book gives an excellent portrayal of Paul Revere through the years. It really focuses on him as a person and the contributions he made to his family and to his country. The pictures are an excellent resource for ELD students as well as all students. I found this book to be very accurate, yet simplistic.

A Picture Book Of Sacagawea is an illustrated children's book with a brief biography of Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who served and guide and interpreter for the exploration/journey of Lewis and Clark into the great Northwest territory of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. From her birth in 17888 or 89 in Idaho to the end of the expedition in Fort Mandan, August of 1806, the biography gives known details of Sacagawea's many helpful and courageous actions. Her eventful life is still incompletely known. The dates of her death are given as "either December 20, 1812, or April 9, 1884." But her life is definitely an example of inspiration to young readers. The colorful illustrations are complementary but not distracting from the simply written text. The author and illustrator give special thanks to Brigham D. Madsen, author of The Northern Shoshoni and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Utah. In addition, there is a selective bibliography to encourage young readers to look further for information about this Shoshoni woman. A Picture Book Of Sacagawea is an excellent resource for elementary or middle school age students.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

This was the first Young Cam Jansen book we have read. My son read part of it and I read part of it aloud to him. We enjoyed it very much. A great easy to read mystery book.

Chelm is that mythic place in Eastern Europe where, by accident, the angels deposited all the world's fools. I love Chelm and all of its residents, who like many people much of the time, take themselves too seriously to see how funny they are.

In this simple tale we meet Rabbi Nachman--not the one from Bratslav, but a fool like all Chelmites, which the illustrations show beautifully. He wore his kipah upside-down (those educated in Chelm lore will immediately recognize his logic from another tale on how Chelmites avoid getting their hats wet in the rain). He also put his breakfast cream in it.

But here's my favorite piece of clever silliness. After failing to see a table right in front of his eyes, Mendel traveled through the snow to find one, and having done so began to carry it back to the shul in time to light the menorah. Of course, he got tired, untied the table and put it down. While resting in the forest, he met Rivki and Dovid.

The latter told the table, "You have four strong legs. If we can walk to the synagogue on two legs, surely you can walk on four."

I won't tell you what else happened, but suffice it to say that even the poor Chelmites eventually determined how to light the Chanukah menorah and found a table to put it on.

If you and your children like this Chelm story, try Eric Kimmel's Jar of Fools too. Amongst the very best Chelm stories, also, are Solomon Simon's Wise Men of Helm and Their Merry Tales and his More Wise Men of Helm and Their Merry Tales. These all provide the read-aloud set with much hilarity. Alyssa A. Lappen

Chelm (pronounced "khlem" with a gutteral) is a mythical town filled with loveable Jewish fools. But Chelm foolishness is not mere stupidity -- no, indeed! The "wisdom" of Chelm is a sort of convoluted mis-logic that satirizes the process of Jewish theological reasoning. It's a way that we Jews have of laughing at ourselves, of stepping back and saying, "Sometimes we make things far more complicated than they need to be."

In this book, Rabbi Nachman of Chelm tells Mendel to set up the menorah by the window for the first night of Chanukah. Mendel goes to the storeroom, where there are such silly things as a bike with square wheels, a crate full of imported air, and the Cantor's Decanter. In this messy jumble he finds a menorah and brings it into the main room. Following the rabbi's instructions quite literally, he sets it up by the window -- on the floor! The Rabbi tells him to get a table. Mendel goes back into the storeroom but, in true Chelmitish denseness, doesn't see the little table where he found the menorah in the first place. So, he tells the rabbi that he can't find a table. The rabbi then sends him to Berel the carpenter, who is busy trying to remember which end of a ladder is the top... and the silliness just goes on from there.

In addition to the main storyline, there are puns and jokes in the illustrations. Characters talk to each other with cartoon-type balloons ("How long did you sleep last night?" "I don't know, I didn't bring a ruler to bed.") and the synagogue cat makes wisecracks. Berel's shop is named "Tables Are Us" (established "some time ago"), where there is a currently a big sale on two-legged tables. Best of all, the sign on the road to Chelm points in both directions -- hinting that EVERYWHERE is Chelm, when you stop to think about it.

In terms of Jewish tradition, the illustrations are appropriate for even very Orthodox Jews. One nice touch is that the menorah is the oil-burning type, rather than one with candles -- which would be accurate for Old World Chelm and in many homes to this day. Candles were expensive back then (out of reach for the poor Chelmites) and oil was/is preferred to commemorate the Miracle of the Oil. Having a cat in the synagogue is historially accurate, too -- she helped keep the mice from nibbling the leather bindings on the books. (Those were, of course, always synagogue mice, never church mice.)

The fictional town of Chelm is filled with a variety of preoccupied and "eccentric" individuals, who are both described and illustrated extremely well. From the Rabbi to Mendel to the animals, who perhaps possess the best judgement of everyone (as expressed by words and in illustration), the town is alive and exceptionally funny, with everyone trying to be understanding, thoughtful, intelligent, and considerate. The message is clear, everybody must be dedicated to something, and must make decisions, we all just have different ways of arriving at them! This is a book to be shared between parent and child(ren), and not only at Hannukah. In my opinion this book would be a welcome edition to any home library, especially those of individuals who are understanding, cooperative, caring, and dedicated to family, to education, and to traditions. It also helps to have a sense of humor (e.g., at times this Chelm is too familiar to me!).

A great book which covers both concepts and applications in a colorful yet simple format.

But...international customers should think twice if they use metric measurement and currency systems!

This book has colorful illustrations and is an excellent in content. It is a great source for children who are trying to learn the concept of fractions/math. A great book and a fun way to learn.

In my third grade classroom, I used the first part of this colorful book to introduce fractions, both equivalent and adding fractions. They loved the hands-on Pizza Math! We also used the last half of the book to introduce a weighing activity and a discussion of money. The students gave it a definite thumbs up. As a teacher I found the colorful illustrations helpful to the students and appreciate the simple presentation of each concept.

This is a fun book that should help your youngster develop an interest in American History. It is easy to read an has great illustratiions. You will not be disappointed with this purchase. Look for others by the same author.

I bought this book for my 5-year-old nephew, and already I can hear him laughing at the illustrations of Edison sitting on goose eggs in his father's barn, causing a chemical fire in a baggage car, and courting teacherly reprisals for his apprarent boredom in a conventional classroom. These all-too-human mishaps from the great inventor's life mix well and bring interest to the charmingly illustrated discussion of his accomplishments: lighting up New York City, inventing the phonograph, inventing the first movie camera and making the first movies with a story. More than just providing a laundry list of his accomplishments, though, this little book explains in simple terms how he worked his way up to owning his own laboratories in Menlo Park, first as a candy butcher turned telegrapher, and finally coming into some money with his invention of the stock ticker. Thomas Edison's accomplishments are something to admire, and I'm definitely happy to start my nephew off learning about him with this book.

Have you ever needed a short and sweet biography for younger students yet could only find books for independent readers? Adler has solved the problem. This book is a wonderful introduction for K-3 graders who need information but cant handle those lengthy chapter books. Abundantly illustrated to keep little eyes busy while listening to the story. Loaded with biographical information and includes a timeline of important dates. Other titles in the series include; Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Christopher Colombus, George Washington, Martin Luter King Jr. and others.

I would like to reccommend this book to boys and girls because it has alot of mystery and adventure. The main characters are Eric, Cam, Fred and Silva

It is a very intresting book!This book was one of the most best books i ever read!It is like a real movie.It also gives you all the detales and everything.This story is like a detective story.You would realy like it!

I liked this book because it was interesting.I like the way they find the missing bones. I would like to read another book about Cam Jansen.

...this one is about a famous television dog named Poochie and another person who had a dog named Cloudy. The two dogs looked exactly alike because there was ink on Cloudy. The owner of Cloudy switched the two dogs and was making a note that said I'll meet you somewhere and you have to pay me some money to get him back. There's a girl named Cam Jansen in this book. She has a photographic memory. There is also Cam's friend Eric and Eric's twin sisters. They were waiting for an autograph from Poochie. Cam says, "click" when she wants to remember something. She was the one who figured out that they were switched. This book is a great book. I think you should read it!

I remember this was a favorite book of mine in the 4th grade. I must have read it 20 times. It is one of the reasons I started to love reading. Cam's a modern day Nancy Drew :)

This book is ful of perfect adventures, and mysteries.I really enjoyed this book because it is alike a real story that really happend!I always read this book over.I think you should try it.

I hope every child gets to read a lest one Black history Book. Even grown men and women.Every person in this world should be able to fell What it was like to be in Black history and this book is prefect to help you.You will feel like you were there right next to Rosa Parks. If you your child or anybody else is interested in Black history I promise this is a book for you.

I really enjoyed this book. It is filled with great illustrations and fun & interesting facts that make it a wonderful book to teach children about Rosa's life. I would highly recommend it for all teachers & parents to share with children.

David Adler has done a tremendous job with this biography as with the others in the series. The book is a great introductory biography for young students in grades K-3. Although his biographies have been criticized for being simplistic, I feel this is exactly what makes these books perfect for younger audiences. They were meant to be an INTRODUCTORY biography, not an exhaustive research study. Young listeners will not be bored and will not drown in excessive information. The book is abundantly illustrated with colorful pictures and concludes with a timeline of important dates. My kids, ages 5,8 and 11, love this series.