Take Me Back
Grade 5–9—This title takes readers on a whirlwind tour of 4.5 million years of history, broken into six chronological chapters. Each one is divided into two-page sections with DK's signature sprinkling of text and visually arresting graphics. Samples from "The Middle Part" (400-1399) include "the birth of Islam," "a frank interview with Charlemagne," and "Medieval mall." Sections are variously formatted as games, Web sites, newspapers, comics, art, maps, and pages from books. Some of the spreads are stunningly creative, presenting episodes from history in immensely appealing style. Others are so cluttered that they are difficult to read. In some cases, tiny print and dark backgrounds render the content almost indecipherable. Occasionally, the cheeky presentation is jarringly out of sync with serious subjects ("Rock out at a gory Aztec festival"). There is abundant fictionalizing of thoughts and dialogue of historical figures and personification of artifacts, e.g., two Easter Island statues discuss the 2000-mile voyage of their Polynesian builders. The lack of extensive coverage on any particular topic makes this book unsuitable for research, and its hefty size may deter browsers. An annotated table of contents and an index of the major topics make the content accessible. This title may find an audience with fans ofGuinness Book of World RecordsandRipley's Believe It Or Not!—Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.