(4) 4-6 Setting the Stage for Fluency series. Illustrated by Siri Weber Feeney. These plays could be done as readers' theater or staged as a full dramas, although the dialogue is stilted in both. In Gourd, two fugitive slaves learn about the Underground Railroad. Sequoyah makes clear the historical significance of a syllabary for the Cherokee language. The prosaic illustrations may offer costume and setting ideas. Reading list, websites. Glos. Review covers these Setting the Stage for Fluency titles: Follow the Drinking Gourd and Sequoyah and His Talking Leaves.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) 4-6 Setting the Stage for Fluency series. Illustrated by Courtney A. Martin. These plays could be done as readers' theater or staged as a full dramas, although the dialogue is stilted in both. In Gourd, two fugitive slaves learn about the Underground Railroad. Sequoyah makes clear the historical significance of a syllabary for the Cherokee language. The prosaic illustrations may offer costume and setting ideas. Reading list, websites. Glos. Review covers these Setting the Stage for Fluency titles: Follow the Drinking Gourd and Sequoyah and His Talking Leaves.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) YA Famous Court Cases That Became Movies series. This series provides detailed accounts of the court cases in question; the movie aspect is both less prominent and less interesting than information about the actual trials (in large part because none of the movies was made anytime recently). Historical photographs and documents are interspersed with movie stills. Sidebars provide related information. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Famous Court Cases That Became Movies titles: Racism on Trial, Evolution on Trial, Presidential Power on Trial, and The Right to Counsel.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(4) 4-6 Wild History of the American West series. These books chronicle the history of the events, places, and personalities that played major roles in the expansion and settlement of the American West. The readable texts are well researched and informative. The screen shots used to illustrate the books are poorly reproduced, but archival photographs, maps, and drawings add interest. Chapter notes are appended. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers these Wild History of the American West titles: The Gold Rush to California's Riches, The Amazing Erie Canal and How A Big Ditch Opened Up the West, What Made the Wild West Wild , The Oregon Trail and the Daring Journey West by Wagon, The Louisiana Purchase, Bleeding Kansas and the Violent Clash over Slavery in the Heartland, and The Pony Express and its Death-Defying Mail Carriers.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) 4-6 Wild History of the American West series. These books chronicle the history of the events, places, and personalities that played major roles in the expansion and settlement of the American West. The readable texts are well researched and informative. The screen shots used to illustrate the books are poorly reproduced, but archival photographs, maps, and drawings add interest. Chapter notes are appended. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers these Wild History of the American West titles: The Gold Rush to California's Riches, The Amazing Erie Canal and How A Big Ditch Opened Up the West, What Made the Wild West Wild , The Oregon Trail and the Daring Journey West by Wagon, The Louisiana Purchase, Bleeding Kansas and the Violent Clash over Slavery in the Heartland, and The Pony Express and its Death-Defying Mail Carriers.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) 4-6 America's Founding Fathers series. Although these laudatory biographies gloss over the more controversial aspects of their subjects' lives and characters (Washington's involvement in an attack on a diplomatic party, Hamilton's and Jefferson's respective mudslinging campaigns), they will provide report writers with basic information. Black-and-white images appear throughout. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these America's Founding Fathers titles: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman