The Underground Railroad: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History)
Grade 3–7—This volume has "3 Story Paths, 37 Choices, 16 Endings" to give children an interactive reading experience and varied outcomes. The text is short and has a somewhat robotic tone. Readers can be a runaway slave, a slave catcher, or an abolitionist. If they opt for the first choice, they are instructed to turn to page 13 to continue the story. There they find out that their father wants to escape, but their mother wants to stay behind. Now readers must decide whether to remain with one parent or go with the other. The text exclaims, "What a terrible choice!" Good point. Perhaps this is not the best topic for the series. After all, most slaves' options were not really good ones, so the story is somewhat of an exercise in futility. Throughout the book, reproductions of photos and illustrations from the period make the information visually appealing.Underground Railroadoffers some historically accurate details but the choice of theme coupled with stilted writing makes it a limited purchase.—Carole Phillips, Greenacres Elementary School, Scarsdale, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.