Lassieur, Allison. Colonial America: An Interactive History Adventure.

Lassieur, Allison.        Colonial America: An Interactive History Adventure.       

Capstone Publishers 2011   112p   22.99  978-1-4296-5481-4           

elm/ms                       You Choose: History (Capstone)     E-BNS

Life in Colonial America has never been presented

in a more user-friendly format!  Students will learn about indentured servants,

sailors and soldiers and their contributions to pre-Revolutionary War days and

life in Philadelphia prior to the war.           This is one of the best of the ╥You

Choose╙ adventures.  Its comprehensive nature shows Colonial America╒s

highlights including life as an indentured servant, life as a ship worker or

soldier, and life as an apprentice to the owner of a print shop.  The format

includes an introduction, three chapters which give equal treatment to the major

issues or people of the times and a conclusion.  Social studies teachers

continually look for ways to combine literacy study with learning, and this book

suits this purpose divinely.  Students will anxiously turn pages to see if they

die in the French & Indian War or return home to help with the family farm.  Do

you help the Colonists╒ cause in the American Revolution or do you perish from

yellow fever?  Just imagine dying from a strike to the head with a tomahawk, or

from disobeying your ship captain’s orders to go below during a storm and

drowning!  At the end of each section of new information, the reader chooses a

path, turns to that page and reads on.  The history lessons come alive as the

author fills in the possible dialog between an indentured servant and an agent

or between a soldier (you!) and a general.  The support pictures are

appropriately placed to aide the young reader comprehend all of the contents.  

The timeline helps the reader place each event in chronological order, the

glossary helps with vocabulary and the extra questions to study are a useful

addition for encouraging additional reflection about a topic.      This series

includes books that support the early civilizations of world history, the major

events of American history, life-changing events like the sinking of the Titanic

and fascinating topics like pirates.  ╥You Choose╙ which topic you will study as

you navigate the pages of this creative series.      Squaresky, Martha