I would recommend this book to any children's music director or teacher. A complete work of folk tunes and fun songs to learn and memorize, so they will not be forgotten.

"It My Earth, Too" contains very easy reading for beginning readers and also very simple yet colorful pictures. The book address very basic elements of why we need to keep the Earth clean and one of those reasons is because we enjoy the land, water, air, and animals. Towards the end it talks about how the things we enjoy can become polluted, unusable, and depleted. At the end of the book, the author gives several different ways for children to pitch in and help save the Earth. I would definitly recommend this book for young readers who are beginning to read so they can understand why they need to help save the Earth.

This is a wonderful overview of the lives of our presidents for anyone. It focuses mainly on the humanity of each president rather than on the historical facts. It has a little information on each president so hard to research presidents are here. This is a great book for a book report. Informaton can be obtained in this book that few people know. It is very easy to read.

This is a book about a trip a girl named Emily took with her grandmother one summer to all 50 states. As they travel, Emily records her thoughts on each state as well as bits of its history and interesting facts (do you know which state boasts the largest watermelon grown?). Each state is covered on 2 pages. As a homeschooling Mom, I am using this book to spark interest in my 7 year old daughter as we study American geography and history. We are learning lots of interesting facts about what there is to see and do all over our country. I initially bought the book to help prepare my daughter for a trip we were taking through 3 states but found the book so enjoyable and helpful that we kept it and are using it in school to supplement our other material. Now if we could just figure out a way to take our own trip to all 50 states...

Criticizing the treatment women usually get from authors, Krull writes, "Traditionally, historians have talked most often about what powerful women looked like." Unfortunately, she then proceeds to share with us that Cleopatra wore pastel robes of filmy silk, Isabella took only two baths in her life, Elizabeth was a flirt, Catherine the Great rubbed her face with an ice cube, Marie Antoinette was passionate about feathered headdresses... Each chapter, about one woman of significance in history, is broken into the main section that gives very little insight into the woman's character or why the author considers her significant; the meatiest information is in smaller type at the end of a chapter, whimsically titled "Ever After." The author does take care to present women from more cultures than most authors do. But overall, I was disappointed in this book.

Not just for girls, this oversize readable volume presents an overview of the biographies of 20 remarkable women throughout history, from Cleopatra to women still living today. Listed for "ages 8-12," it's up to you whether you want your 8-year-old reading the one or two questionable -- and reallay unnecessary -- passages I found referring to their more intimate proclivities. But this is an important book for kids who need to find heroes (and who doesn't) and go on to read more about them. The reading list in the back is disappointingly short -- but hey! Thank goodness for amazon.com and its incredible "search" program! I must admit, there were a couple of women here I knew nothing or next to nothing about. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn about them. Therefore, it's not just for kids.

A friend brought LIVES OF EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN to a huge Thanksgiving feast; the book was never put down, it was constantly being read by one or another parent, teenager, or was being read to a younger daughter. I was surprised by the vehemently negative review posted here, and it made me delay my order by one day. But in the end, I ordered it -- actually, I ordered two. I find this book to be a good starting-point, the bios are 2-3 pages and well-written, and the drawings are engaging. It's a good overview book to get girls interested in these women, and they can go from there if they want more information. I don't think the author intended it to be a comprehensive encyclopedia, so judging it by that standard is unfair. I bought the book for my daughter, 9, and a niece, 6. It's perfectly written for that sort of age range. I hope the author writes more of these books -- this one only includes women who became rulers of their country (queens, presidents, prime ministers, etc. -- the majority seem to be from Britain, but also extending to Israel, China, Africa). I'd love more books of this kind that focus on women writers, women artists, and other extraordinary women.

I was less then impressed by Ms Krull's work. Taking the 2nd amendment as an example, her information was less then accurate.

PP81 where Ms. Krull claims that "by 1999 about 16 American children a day were being killed by guns.." is even higher than an often quoted figure from HCI. The HCI figure has been shown wrong numerious times.

pp84 Ms Krull states without James Madison to explain himself, people have been arguing about these words since written. When James Madison's good friend Tench Coxe wrote to explain all the amendments in the Bill of Rights he indicated "..The people are confirmed in the next article (2nd amendment) in their right to keep and bear their private arms. Madison told Coxe that "he was indebted to the co-operation of your pen" for helping to explain the amendments to the public. Madison's support of like explainations clearly indicates that the 2nd is an individual right.

pp84 "Lawyers and legal prfessors usually have taken the narrower view: the right to own guns is a collective one..". Really?? why then do 29 out of 32 legal reviews of the 2nd amendment since 1980 indicate the 2nd is an individual right? Why has even famed socialist legal scholar Lawrence Tribes changed his mind and says its an individual right?

I could go on and on. Ms Kull's indication that gun control could prevent crime has been disproven so many times its sad. Even her pointing to England as a place of control providing low crime has been proven wrong since this book was written in 1999. Since then England has experienced a dramatic increase in crime. British Government studies point to the banning of firearm ownership in 1999 as the cause of the problem.

Ms. Kull has high praise for the Brady Bill. However, in the 8/2/00 issue of the AMA anti-gun researchers where forced to admit that there was no data to support the Brady Bill as having reduced crime.

Two issues are clear to anyone who honestly reviews the 2nd amendment: (1) It is an American right to privately own and carry arms (2) Gun control mearly makes it easier for criminals to commit crimes and turns "We the People" into "We the sheep/victum".

Actually, we have her "lives of the Presidents" book, too, and I'd give a review of it about the same title!

This is a fairly readable book, appropriate for interested fifth to seventh graders (or younger, if they like to read, or maybe older if they need a simple introduction)

It's a great topic and Krull uses a nice approach, with lots of illustrative cases that kids might find engaging -- Some are famous Supreme Court decisions, others are recent news stories, many involve minors.

The writing style is ok, nothing great "One day in 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, decided to do something daring..." Lots of term-paper-like usage of "many", "some", etc.: "Today, many view school prayer as a way to promote values and ethical behavior in children. Others insist that the teaching of moral values does not require the removal of the wall between church and state."

I find it a little plodding in spots, but my nine year old son didn't seem to notice. And it does provide a good starting point for our own discussions.

Lots of very sensitive political issues are touched on -- and the author definitely has a liberal bias. It's most noticable in the second amendment discussion, but you don't have to look very hard to find it elsewhere. Sometimes I have no idea where she's coming from. In the eighth amendment discussion, just before some predictable stuff on capital punishment, she says "Recently, however, many have come to feel that depriving liberty to any but the most violent criminals may be inappropriate punishment." I think the point about prison conditions is worth making, but I'm not sure I've ever heard it expressed this way before. The restriction to only the *most* violent criminals is a particularly startling touch.

And, I wonder who she means by:
"There are some who see the interests of government as more important than the rights of the people. They can be actively hostile to the Bill of Rights and would just as soon undermine it." Somehow, I don't think she's talking about the Environmental Protection Agency's lack of concern for the takings clause of the fifth amendment. Incidentally, her discussion of the fifth amendment skips that clause completely.

And of course, she has little good to say about the tenth amendment, though she mentions that Bob Dole made a point of quoting it in his presidential campaign.

Despite my last few paragraphs, I actually do like this book, mostly. I *definitely* approve of the concept -- a book about real government issues in a style accessible to kids. And it has led to some interesting conversations with my son, which I find very rewarding (he seems to like them, too).

My high school senior students love this book as a jumping off place for their study of the Bill of Rights. The minute they read about the drug-sniffing dog, or Mary Beth Tinker, they begin to understand the importance of their own rights under the law. By using cases involving teens, the author brings the language and beliefs of the 18th century into the lives of 21st century teens. A great classroom resource, especially for reluctant readers.