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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! 5th Graders will love it!!
Review: From Columbus boyhood to his discovery voyage; John Cabot, Henry Hudson, William Penn, Ben Franklyn, Washington, Jefferson, Daniel Boone, Fulton, Morse and the Telegraph, Lincoln, Civil War, Spanish War, Great Expositions, Panama Canal to the purchase of Alaska... this small volume of history is, incredible! I was looking for history to supplement our 5th grade curriculum, and thank goodness for amazon.com search engines or I may never have discovered this gold. Each chapter concludes with 4-5 open ended questions, along with pronunciations and definitions of 2-3 words from the chapter. The chapter's read as though you were peaking in a window, and then following the characters around, and enjoying it. It's great. I read a couple chapters to my own 7 year old, and he loved it. I told him (using the 4/5 questions) what he would he learn from it, i.e. You'll learn where Christopher Columbus was born, etc.; then I read the chapter, followed with the questions and he did as well as my students. I've been discouraged by the presentation of textbooks, for students of all grades, when it comes to history. I decided to "read" to my students from their textbooks and other sources (such as this one)because history, afterall, is storytelling! So I strongly recommend to teachers, parents, homeschoolers, and students to add a book such as this one to your library, and see the times as they were, the people, the places, the food, the importance of events as they happened, and read, read, read this one. Another selection for those interested in more adventurous people,want more of the same, get Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans, by Eggleston, and read up more on Washington,Franklyn,in their youth along with Daniel Boone, Daniel Webster, Longfellow, Kit Carson and Horace Greeley. It's fun and exciting for all to read, you'll see. The true shame today, is how many good books, older than 10 and 20 years ago, are considered OLD... when it comes to education & history, I think the older, the more true, and the better... how about you!
Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing Historical Perspective
Review: I teach history to Middle School students. One of the greatest charms of old History books like this one is the simple fact that they were written at a time when people had a different perspective on events. They thus provide us with both the history covered and the historical perspective of a different period of time.History, especially for children, is meant to be told as a coherent story and, like any story, includes the perspective of the author. It is precicely the author's selection and coherent integration of the facts that he deems most important that makes history interesting. A more objective understanding of the past is achieved by reading multiple perspectives and integrating an understanding of each author's bias with their work. Modern history books that try to present history without judgement, assessment, or character succeed only in compiling a confusing, politically correct menagerie of cluttered facts that bores and confuses the reader. A simple example: Thanksgiving is a celebration originating from the discovery that private property ownership lead to plentiful harvest. The preceding commonwealth experiments of the Plymouth and Jamestown collonists where all production was shared and divided equally lead to "the starving time" that lasted multiple years. No modern textbook has the honesty to present these simple facts as they actually happened, thus confusing the true meaning of American Thanksgiving and distorting the valuable lesson that was learned by our forefathers. Eggleston does.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorely Out of Date
Review: This is the type of dry textbook that makes children hate history. A much better option is to obtain good history storybooks, such as those by the D'Aulaires, which bring history to life and provide a balanced, less racist, view of the world. Here are some quotes from this textbook to illustrate my meaning. P. 25 "Soon after the settlers landed, the Indians attacked them while they were unarmed...When they heard the noise of the cannons, like thunder, and saw the treetops come tumbling on their heads, the savages thought it was time to make good use of their heels (sic). I mean, my goodness, who is he calling savages. Anyone who knows the history of jolly old England at that time will be aware of who were the real "savages." (Specifically, I refer the reader to the civil war between King Charles and Oliver Cromwell in which Puritan vandals sacked numerous churches, monasteries, and other public property. See the film "Cromwell" or Woodstock by Sir Walter Scott.) P.54 The Indians, having got one taste of the firearms of the white men, were afraid to attack Plymouth. But they thought they could get rid of the white men by witch craft. So they held what they called a "powwow" in a big swamp, to persuade the spirits to kill and drive away the newcomers...but the savages always ran away when they were discovered. Of course, according to the author, anything not Christian is witch craft, and anyone not European is a savage. I should hope that such ideas are not ones that parents want to instill in their beloved children.
Rating:
Summary: Our 9 year son old loved this
Review: When our son was 9, I think my sister sent us an Eggleston book that my son liked. Anyway, after that, I bought this book, and he loved it. It contains mostly biographies. These men as children had different lives than our children, but the feelings they felt are exactly the same. No other book has touched him as this book did (fiction, non-fiction, etc). He asked me repeatedly to buy him another Eggleston book, but there were no others that I could buy until recently (he's 12 now). He has developed a tremendous love for history, and this book was probably a big part of that.
Along the way, some things you get are ok, some are good, but there may be that one thing that stands above everything else. This was that one thing for us. So I decided to come back and put in this review.
Rating:
Summary: This is a must-have for all homeschoolers and educators
Review: Wow! I can't rave about this little book enough. I'm reading it to my two 5th graders, my 4th grader, and my first grader as an adjunct to our classical homeschooling history. It is so compact and yet so thorough. The pictures are lots of fun...little old line drawings and woodcuts. There are at least two per chapter and they ADD rather than distract. Each chapter is about a famous figure in American History. Eggleston's style is amazing--literate, and yet straightforward. The questions after each 3-4 page chapter are direct and helpful...no twaddle. The vocabulary words are a big bonus. I want to be clear: Eggleston's little miracle book isn't just an antique curiosity , filled with embarassing 1920's racial slurs or hero-worship. It's an honest, time-tested, balanced book...the opening chapters on Columbus alone prove this. And it's very versitile. I can see this being a story or textbook, with either the questions and vocab included in as a unit, or ignored completely. This is how we use it: I read to the kids, and they summarize each chapter on paper. Then I ask the included questions, and we discuss. Another note: please, please don't be put off by the odd cover of this little gem! The binding is made to last. It would be a great gift to any child.
Rating:
Summary: This is a must-have for all homeschoolers and educators
Review: Wow! I can't rave about this little book enough. I'm reading it to my two 5th graders, my 4th grader, and my first grader as an adjunct to our classical homeschooling history. It is so compact and yet so thorough. The pictures are lots of fun...little old line drawings and woodcuts. There are at least two per chapter and they ADD rather than distract. Each chapter is about a famous figure in American History. Eggleston's style is amazing--literate, and yet straightforward. The questions after each 3-4 page chapter are direct and helpful...no twaddle. The vocabulary words are a big bonus. I want to be clear: Eggleston's little miracle book isn't just an antique curiosity , filled with embarassing 1920's racial slurs or hero-worship. It's an honest, time-tested, balanced book...the opening chapters on Columbus alone prove this. And it's very versitile. I can see this being a story or textbook, with either the questions and vocab included in as a unit, or ignored completely. This is how we use it: I read to the kids, and they summarize each chapter on paper. Then I ask the included questions, and we discuss. Another note: please, please don't be put off by the odd cover of this little gem! The binding is made to last. It would be a great gift to any child.
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