American Heroes

Bibliographic information: 

Delano, Marfe Ferguson.  American Heroes.  National Geographic, 2005. 

Brief plot description:

This book discusses the heroes of America.  The book is divided up into chapters that reflect certain years.  The chapter time periods are beginning to 1763, 1763-1789, 1789-1848, 1848-1877, 1876-1900, 1900-1941, and 1947-present.  The first thing that the book does is explain what an American hero is.  For each hero there is a fact box that includes their birth date, death, family members, honors, landmarks, milestones, other names, and other facts.  Next to the fact box is a couple paragraphs on the hero.  Some of the heroes in this book include Pocahontas, Ben Franklin, Lewis and Clark, Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Joseph, the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Franklin Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, and many more. 

Brief review:

I think that this book could be used in a fourth through eighth grade setting.  It would be a great book to use for research.  The lower grades could use this as an on level source, and the higher grades could use it as one of their many sources.  This book has great pictures and details about each hero.  Some of the pictures are not appropriate for some ages so you should look at them closely and talk about them before letting the students see them.  I think that this is a great book to use in a classroom when talking about different time periods in history. 

Genre label:

Informational

Reading level/interest level:

4^th- 8^th grade; maybe high school

Similar materials in style content, theme or characters:

An American Hero: The True Story of Charles A. Lindbergh by Barry Denenberg

All Shook Up: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley by Barry Denenberg

One More River to Cross: The Stories of Twelve Black Americans by Jim Haskins

Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington by Cheryl Harness