Cover Image: Big Ideas from History (NOP)

Big Ideas from History (NOP)

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Member Reviews

Shows children how the history of the world panned out in a way that they can understand. A good easy-to-follow way to digest such a daunting topic.

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A good informative book that sets out some of the big ideas in history in an accessible way for kids. I like that the book treats the reader as being able to reason and form their own ideas and opinions (a lot of non-fiction aimed at kids can be patronising). I lived the weenilkustrations through.

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This book covers many historical topics in a way that is accessible and relatively easy to understand for middle grade readers. There does appear to be some misinformation and bias, including discussions on religion and evolution that may offend some readers. I think that there is a lot of really great information included though, and is a good book for younger readers with an interest in history. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

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There's a lot of good information in this book, and it's presented in a way that lower grade readers (3-5) can easily understand, however there's also misinformation and bias as well. For example, when talking about Christianity, the author gives the basic facts but when discussing Islam, the author refers to it as one of the greatest religions. In a history text, all religions and ideas should receive equal treatment. Additionally, when writing about the Aztecs, the text includes a picture of an "Aztec" temple in Guatemala when, in reality, the Maya inhabited Guatemala.

There are definitely chapters that could be useful in a classroom, however this book needs a bibliography or works cited list at the end to add some credibility.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

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This book does a good job of covering several topics in a short amount of time. I particularly enjoyed when the book discussed evolution and how slowly the process went. Another great part was the explanation of how the physical features of people have changed over thousands of years, based on the journeys that they made from their original families and locations. Students will be able to learn a great deal from this book, as it clearly defined terms that they may be unfamiliar with. My only critique was when the book discussed world religions; it listed many options, but only gave details about a few of them. Also, when discussing ancient religions, it stated that these religions "weren't 'true' - there isn't really a lion-man and the sun can't hear our songs". I felt that the use of the word "true " implied that current religions have been proven to be true, which they have not. Though religions have changed, nothing has been proven to be true, ancient or not.

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