Product Review

The invaluable grade-by-grade guide (kindergarten€"sixth) is designed to help parents and teachers select some of the best books for children.

Books to Build On recommends:

€ for kindergartners, lively collections of poetry and stories, such as The Children€s Aesop, and imaginative alphabet books such as Bill Martin, Jr.€s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Lucy Micklewait€s I Spy: An Alphabet in Art

€ for first graders, fine books on the fine arts, such as Ann Hayes€s Meet the Orchestra, the hands-on guide My First Music Book, and the thought-provoking Come Look with Me series of art books for children

€ for second graders, books that open doors to world cultures and history, such as Leonard Everett Fisher€s The Great Wall of China and Marcia Willaims€s humorous Greek Myths for Young Children

€ for third graders, books that bring to life the wonders of ancient Rome, such as Living in Ancient Rome, and fascinating books about astronomy, such as Seymour Simon€s Our Solar System

€ for fourth graders, engaging books on history, including Jean Fritz€s Shh! We're Writing the Constitution, and many books on Africa, including the stunningly illustrated story of Sundiata: Lion King of Mali

€ for fifth graders, a version of Shakespeare€s A Midsummer Night€s Dream that retains much of the original language but condenses the play for reading or performance by young students, and Michael McCurdy€s Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass

€ for sixth graders, an eloquent retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the well-written American history series, A History of US

. . . and many, many more!