The U.S. Constitution (American Symbols)
Distilling the U.S. Constitution into 24 pages isn't easy, but this volume in the American Symbols series is so attractive that kids may be drawn in by the pictures and learn something about American history in the process. Colored in deep hues, Skeens' images look so sturdy that they seem to be carved from wood. The text begins with James Madison introducing himself (he never appears again) and presumably asking the question the text poses: "What is the U.S. Constitution?" Each spread offers a few paragraphs of information about the document and its sections, the framers and how they worked together ("there was a lot of arguing"), and a little more about the branches of government. There's oversimplification; it's a shame Pearl didn't list the individual amendments in the Bill of Rights; and snippets of information are embedded in the spreads in type that is easy to miss. Still, the book's good points outweigh its minuses. Several books and Web sites are appended.Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to theLibrary Bindingedition.