50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet

50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet	Lerner Publishing
Written by Dennis Denenberg and Lorriane Roscoe	2005
Non-Fiction, biographies	128 pages
Reading Level age 9-12

Summary

This is a compilation of 50 biographies of important people in our American history. There are presidents, first ladies, athletes, scientists, civil right activists and many others. It had the famous presidents and important science founders, but also included little known people or those not seen as heroes: Yo Yo Ma, Martha Graham, and Milton Hershey. Each individual has two pages written about their life and contribution to society. It was well laid out with background information and ‘Explore more’ opportunity with websites and places to visit. It is written as if the authors are talking to the reader instead of stating the facts of someone’s life. I learned a lot about those I knew of already and learned about more influential people I didn’t know as well.

Response

I thought this was a good read and interesting. I liked the layout, there was enough information for a summary and pictures of sketches, and the explore option to keep learning. I spent hours reading this book and loved learning new facts. One thing I didn’t like was that there didn’t seem to be any organization, they were not in chronological order or separated based on their influential field or accomplishment.

Potential Problems

The individuals written in the book were the authors’ choice. There might be some people who think the heroes described aren’t the best of this country. It is skewed on a more political aspect than a scientific or athletic view.

Recommendations

I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about the influential people of America. It would be good for those who love reading interesting facts and doing reports on American heroes.