A Primary Source Guide to Ireland

School Library Journal

Gr 3-4-These four titles are reminiscent of primers of the 1950s. Each book contains 10 double-page chapters. A full-page photo, often with an insert, faces a full page of text with the photo caption at the bottom. Chapter titles are superimposed on the same narrow strip taken from the cover photo. No mention is made of what primary sources are, or why students need to know about them. The section entitled "Primary Source List" consists of selected photo credits and a brief repetition of the captions. Each title includes a page of statistics. The information is so simplified that misconceptions may easily occur. Australia discusses the koala bear, but the photo caption then explains that the koala is not a bear. Vietnam states that the Mekong River splits into nine different branches as it approaches the delta. It uses the word "tributary" to describe this process, but the glossary (and dictionary) definition is the complete opposite. The single map in each title is adequate, and the color photographs are acceptable, but they do not salvage the texts. There is nothing here that could not be easily found in any encyclopedia.-Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.