Knights

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-- Written to a 64-page framework, these books are not equally informative, although all have high-quality full-color photographs. Egyptian Tombs is a quick summary of pyramids and other tombs. It covers construction, contents of the tombs, and Egyptian religion and death rites. The pictures of the tombs and paintings and the hieroglyphs scattered throughout add information. The book does not have the information found in The Pyramids (Lerner, 1977) by John Weeks nor in Macaulay's Pyramid (Houghton, 1975), but it serves younger readers. Knights is succinct and gives information on battles, habits, life, and training. In addition, life in a castle is described, including food and the fascinating topic of bathing. Knights of the Crusades (Harper, 1962; o.p.) gives more information than do books about castles, such as See Inside a Castle (Warwick, 1979) by Unstead, but this is a handy book to use and has just enough information for a short report. Unfortunately the fine illustrations are neither identified by source nor well captioned. By trying to do too much in the limited space Pirates ends up being confusing. The text quickly shifts from how men became pirates to how they ate, to the battles, cleaning the boat, and mock trials, with little transition. Brief information is included on five of the pirates, including Anne Bonny and Mary Read, but only enough to awaken readers' interest. There is more information given here than in Pirates (Lerner, 1977; o.p.) by Brenda Thompson and Rosemary Giesen but not as much as in Pirates and Buccaneers (Lerner, 1970; o.p.) by Robert Larranaga. Generally these titles add little new information but will fill a gap where need exists. --Margaret C. Howell, West Springfield Elementary School, Fairfax County, Va.