(4) 4-6 Oxford Children's Classics series. These budget-priced unabridged volumes, compact and sturdily bound with glossy-finished covers, have pleasant but bland cover illustrations and a uniform design. A short "about the author" is included in each. Review covers these Oxford Children's Classics titles: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows, and Party Shoes.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 4-6 Oxford Children's Classics series. These budget-priced unabridged volumes, compact and sturdily bound with glossy-finished covers, have pleasant but bland pink- (Garden) and purple- (Beauty) heavy cover illustrations and a uniform design. A short "about the author" is included in each. Review covers these Oxford Children's Classics titles: The Secret Garden and Black Beauty.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 4-6 Oxford Children's Classics series. These budget-priced unabridged volumes, compact and sturdily bound with glossy-finished covers, have pleasant but bland cover illustrations and a uniform design. A short "about the author" is included in each. Review covers these Oxford Children's Classics titles: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows, and Party Shoes.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 4-6 Oxford Children's Classics series. These budget-priced unabridged volumes, compact and sturdily bound with glossy-finished covers, have pleasant but bland pink- (Garden) and purple- (Beauty) heavy cover illustrations and a uniform design. A short "about the author" is included in each. Review covers these Oxford Children's Classics titles: The Secret Garden and Black Beauty.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 4-6 Oxford Children's Classics series. These budget-priced unabridged volumes, compact and sturdily bound with glossy-finished covers, have pleasant but bland cover illustrations and a uniform design. A short "about the author" is included in each. Review covers these Oxford Children's Classics titles: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows, and Party Shoes.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) 4-6 Digging for the Past series. Beginning with the 1961 excavation of Fort Ward, this book details fifty years of archaeological discovery related to colonial America, including a Quaker household's water filtering system and a large button repository in the free black neighborhood of Hayti. Art includes period and modern photographs, maps, and pictures of the artifacts. Co-author Cressey has been the Alexandria city archaeologist since 1977. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) YA Pages from History series. This in-depth discussion is organized around primary source materials (e.g., diary entries of an eighteenth-century midwife; a pictorial essay on child labor), which make up the main body of the text. Written by an academic historian, this book nevertheless provides an accessible and convenient way for students to understand the worldwide effects of the Industrial Revolution. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(3) 4-6 Digging for the Past series. The book (co-written by a Mexican archaeologist) begins with a fascinating look at the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, upon which Mexico City was built after the Spanish conquest. Later chapters examine major archaeological finds of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The text is dense, but vivid reproductions help break it up while capturing the artifacts' peculiar beauty. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) YA American Landmarks series. Historically significant landmarks provide the backdrop for this well-written chronology of cultural, legal, political, and social milestones of the African-American experience. Clear, captioned illustrations, fact boxes, maps, suggested readings, and a timeline accompany a thought-provoking discussion of the people and events that gave the landmarks relevance. Featured sites include Boston's African Meeting House, Harpers Ferry, and Harlem's Apollo Theater. Ind.

Reviewer: Christina Dorr

(3) YA Pages from History series. Accompanied by well-captioned black-and-white reproductions and photos and informative sidebars (filled with statistics), this thorough and clearly written book covers Japan's history from the 1600s to 2000. After a historical overview, the remaining chapters consist of short excerpts from primary sources, contextual summaries of the specific time period, and discussion of each document's relevance. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(3) YA In this solid reference source, documents from the National Archives (and a few, such as the Gettysburg Address, not in the Archives) are presented in chronological order. Ranging from the 1776 Lee Resolution and Declaration of Independence to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, each document is introduced and then reprinted; occasionally, minor editing appears on the facsimiles. Reading list. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) YA Oxford Portraits series. Not the usual by-the-numbers series biography, this book focuses on the philosophy of the writer of the Declaration of Independence. With few illustrations to break up the dense text, this book is for the most intrepid readers, who will be rewarded with an in-depth look into the mind of Jefferson. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) YA Oxford Portraits series. This astute biography looks at the long life and legacy of Woodhull, who galvanized the women's suffrage movement but was chastised for her outspokenness and eccentric behavior. Brody balances her discussion of Woodhull's accomplishments (she was the first woman to run for U.S. president) with character-fleshing details. Black-and-white photos and reproductions appear throughout. Reading list, timeline. Ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) YA Oxford Portraits series. This biography foregrounds Franklin's inventiveness, which he used not only to operate a profitable print shop and understand lightning but also to design and implement strategies for uniting the colonies, gather French support for the American cause, and negotiate peace with England. Black-and-white period illustrations and excerpts from Franklin's writing extend the respectful and generally clear text. Directory, reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) YA British Library Writers' Lives series. This thorough examination of Dickens provides readers with a clear sense of his life and how it influenced his work--an impoverished childhood and years as a journalist and law clerk provided Dickens with the foundation for novels such as Oliver Twist. Reproductions of letters, manuscripts, photos, and engravings add interest and break up dense text blocks. Reading list, timeline. Ind.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) 4-6 World in Ancient Times series. These well-written books offer detailed accounts of the rise and fall of ancient Roman and Greek civilization; also provided are short biographies of relevant individuals and their accomplishments. The cleanly designed books, which feature lots of white space, maps, and photos, are impressively well-rounded considering how much information the authors needed to winnow. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these World in Ancient Times titles: The Ancient Roman World and The Ancient Greek World.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(4) YA American Landmarks series. In profiling eleven sites on the National Register of Historic Places, including ones as diverse as Taos Pueblo (built in 1325) and the Madame C. J. Walker building (built in 1927), this narrative weaves together--not always seamlessly--the history of American women in relation to place. Archival pictures, color photos, and primary-source documents help enliven the text. Reading list, timeline. Ind.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(3) 4-6 Digging for the Past series. Clearly, accurately, and respectfully, these authors reveal the history of the Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois, covering the Woodland Indians who built the mounds in stages beginning around 1000 CE, the developers who wanted to bulldoze them, and the scientists who worked to save and interpret them. Photographs and re-created representations illustrate the text. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) 4-6 World in Ancient Times series. These well-written books offer detailed accounts of the rise and fall of ancient Roman and Greek civilization; also provided are short biographies of relevant individuals and their accomplishments. The cleanly designed books, which feature lots of white space, maps, and photos, are impressively well-rounded considering how much information the authors needed to winnow. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these World in Ancient Times titles: The Ancient Roman World and The Ancient Greek World.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) 4-6 Transportation in America series. This book chronicles the development of aquatic transportation in the United States, covering Native American canoes, the Canal Era, steamboats, transatlantic travel, and modern vessels. Photos, illustrations, and a sprinkling of primary sources bring the informative text to life. Addresses, reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Juliet S. King