The Germans

Children's Literature

This thirty-two-page book is one of several titles in the "We Came to North America" series. It provides an overview of German immigration to the United States and Canada from the 1500s to the present, highlighting the German's unique traditions and history. The contributions of German immigrants to education, politics, food, music, the arts and popular culture, as well as contributions of specific German immigrants and noteworthy individuals of German decent (Presidents Hoover and Eisenhower, Marlene Dietrich, Albert Einstein, Hershey, H. J. Heinz, Pabst, Schlitz, Anheuser, Busch, the Studebaker brothers, Levi Strauss, Henry Kissinger, "Dr. Seuss," Babe Ruth, and more), are mentioned briefly. Illustrations, photographs, maps and excerpts from first-person accounts enhance the text. 2001, Crabtree, $21.28 and $8.95. Ages 8 up. Reviewer: Ellen R. Braaf

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Double-page spreads, lavishly illustrated with paintings, engravings, maps, and black-and-white and full-color period and contemporary photographs, describe the homelands, how and why the immigrants left, their reception and life in the United States and Canada, and their contributions to their new lands. Large boxes focus in on various topics, usually history but also culture and languages; full-page personal narratives are interspersed at appropriate points throughout. While these books are attractive and written for a younger audience than the "Immigrant Experience" series (Chelsea) and "Footsteps to America" series (Macmillan), they are seriously flawed by inattention to detail. The map of eastern North America in The Germans misplaces cities and even includes "Ohio" as a city. Irish lists John Barry's dates as 175-1803; the title of Mary McCarthy's book is incorrectly given as Memoirs (instead of Memories) of a Catholic Girlhood. Annie Moore is described as "the first of over a million Irish who arrived in New York during the famine." Is it the Great Famine (1845-1850) mentioned on the previous page? Annie Moore is actually commemorated in statue as the first person to pass through Ellis Island when it opened on Jan. 1, 1892. The Poles incorrectly spells the name of the city Bydgoszcz on its map; Polish settlers to Jamestown disembarked from just one ship, the Mary and Margaret, not Mary and Margaret. A strong editorial hand was lacking in these series titles.-Diane S. Marton, Arlington County Library, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.