Books in Discover the Life of an Explorer series

Grade 2-4-These bare-bones titles average 11 short paragraphs of text with a generally clear color photo of a site or historical map, or a reproduction, on each spread. There is not as much text as in some encyclopedia entries, and the language and sentence structure are extremely simple. It is unlikely that the audience to whom the format and text might appeal will have the requisite historical background for or interest in these books, and some of Kline's comments may confuse readers. For example, in Lewis, the author writes that, "In 1803 very few people lived west of the Mississippi River." Yet a few pages later, she states that on their travels West, Lewis and Clark "met many tribes of Native Americans." These volumes may be useful in schools where there is high local interest in the subjects among primary-grade students or where there is a need for brief biographies for older ESL or reluctant readers. However, they are not likely to profit from the Web sites listed-the reading levels are much higher than that of the books-and negotiating some home pages might be difficult. The formulaic nature of these titles makes for uninspiring reading.