Micklos, John, Jr. Washington’s Crossing the Delaware and the Winter at Valley Forge Through Primary Sources.

Micklos, John, Jr.  Washington’s Crossing the Delaware and the Winter at Valley Forge Through Primary Sources.  Enslow  2013      48p   $30.60  ISBN 978-0-7660-4132-5  elm/ms  series: American Revolution Through Primary Sources     VG-BNS

Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River and the winter at Valley Forge with his men are described, along with examples of primary and secondary sources of information in the illustrations that are scattered through the book.  The writing is good, the layout is attractive, and the book includes an easy-to-follow timeline, a glossary, chapter notes, a list of books and internet addresses for further reading, and an index. The goal of the series, which is, in addition to teaching the kids some history, to teach them to discern the difference between primary and secondary sources, should have been discussed more overtly in a forword of some sort.  Instead, the book relies on a teacher discussing this prior to looking at the book with the students.  Illustrations of primary-source materials are marked with a special designation, and those that depict secondary sources are not.  Some of the reproduction of the primary-source materials could have been sharper, as is the case with the July 1775 document commissioning George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.  However, in a book of this size, perhaps this was the best that could be done in terms of the image.    The American Revolution Through Primary Sources is a subset of the Primary Sources series by Enslow.  Others in this subset cover American Indians and African Americans, women and children, how the 13 colonies became the US, and how the revolution was won.  

American Revolution                                               --Carol Kennedy