A Medieval Castle

School Library Journal

Gr 5-7-- Two attractively designed series entries that make learning history pleasurable. Informative, colorful cutaway illustrations in conjunction with Macdonald's well-researched texts and captions present accurate and understandable glimpses into their topics. A Medieval Castle covers the planning and construction of the castle and outlying buildings, and gives a description of the inhabitants' way of life. The larger community of laborers, servants, knights, minstrels, and farmers are all included. The approach here is very different from that of David Macaulay's Castle (Houghton, 1977), which focuses on the physical construction. While there are many books on railroads themselves, the stations seldom receive much attention. A 19th Century Railway Station explains how they were built, financed, and decorated, and how train travel affected the lives of people at that time. Railroad employees and their jobs are also detailed. Both books are packed with information, resulting in a somewhat crowded look. They reflect their British origins in the spelling of certain terms and in the choice of examples cited. The marvelously detailed pictures, however, make up for any other small problems. For reports and recreational reading alike. --Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, County of Henrico Public Library--Fairfield Area Library, Richmond, VA