April 1, 2013
Gr 3-5-Chatty and informal in tone, these volumes provide a wealth of information regarding each waterway's history, geographical characteristics, wildlife, and influence on the development of nearby towns and cities. Conservation is emphasized in all the titles. The importance of each waterway commercially and recreationally is also discussed. Vocabulary words are set apart in bold font and defined in the glossary. Activities are scattered throughout each text, including recipes inspired by local cuisine, instructions for making a field guide, and directions on how to write an eco-conscious letter to politicians. Quizzes encourage further interactivity. Images are prolific and colorful. There are photos, maps, reproductions, and illustrations. The attractive postage stamp motif adds visual cohesiveness to the set.
Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2013
Grades 3-6 The Social Studies Explorer: It's Cool to Learn about America's Waterways series adopts a friendly second-person tone, as if addressing a child planning a big visit to the titular waterway. The four chapters of each book cover the same basic information. The first chapter introduces the waterway and provides basic geographic information about the surrounding area; the second chapter discusses the wildlife; the third chapter supplies a history, including today's tourism and agriculture; and the final chapter moves on to conservation and environmental activism. Each book includes a number of activities, including using a map, creating a field guide, a recipe, a quiz, and a letter to a politician about protecting the waterway. One activity, a graphing exercise, is customized to each book. In The Rio Grande, they graph water usage in the river basin. Suggestions of what to pack for each destination add to the excitement, and photos are used as effective accents and illustrations rather than dominating the pages. Overall, these books offer a lot of information in an interactive, reader-friendly way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)