Through Time: Beijing
Grade 3–6—Chronologically arranged spreads begin with "A marshy home 16000 B.C.," continue on with such chapters as "Kublai Khan's city A.D. 1290," "The Forbidden City A.D. 1406," and "The Cultural Revolution A.D. 1966," and conclude with "Museum City Today." Paragraphs around a large central picture describe what is going on and are written in the present tense, which can be a bit confusing at first. The pictures of different scenes or details are also captioned. The layout is attractive, and the full-color illustrations invite close inspection. There is no sugarcoating here; soldiers burn houses and kill residents, and intellectuals are put to death during the Cultural Revolution. The narrative seems to be written from the Chinese perspective of each time period, such as referring to the "hated Yuan" or stating that "the Forbidden City has stood for everything that is wrong with the 'old' China." This style requires a bit of sophistication on the part of readers, who may not have the background knowledge to put events into context or assess its historical accuracy. What is misleading about this volume is that after eight entries discussing different locations and conquerors, the concentration is on the Forbidden City. There is nothing about Beijing as a whole or the modern aspects of the metropolis.—Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.