Places in Time: A New Atlas of American History » (None)

Susan Buckley has developed more than ten elementary social studies programs and was the general editor of Houghton Mifflin's We the People. She has written many history and geography books for children and teachers. She lives in New York City.

A tiny whaling village along the Pacific in 1490, New Plymouth as the Pilgrims settled in, Fort Mose as it welcomed African Americans escaping from slavery, Gettysburg on the day that decided the Civil War . . . Places in Time offers a bird’s-eye view of twenty sites where American history was made. Each page opens an unforgettable window to the past, where you can find out just what it was like to live in one place on one day in our nation’s history.

KLIATT

These imaginative books, Places in Time and Journeys in Time, are aimed at an older elementary audience, but they should do fine by younger YAs and they're sure to delight teachers as well. Each volume covers its topic in 20 chapters, built around an annotated map (Journeys) or place diagram (Places). Text takes readers through 10 or 12 annotated spots on the double-page stops. For instance, the Lowell Mill Town double page in Places has stops that discuss boarding house life and waterpower, among others; the stops on Journeys' pages are more obvious ones. Topics cover traditional and more contemporary historical approaches. We get the voyage of the Mayflower and founding New Mexico; we go to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark, take the Underground Railroad and leave Vietnam. In Places we go from Cahokia, Illinois to New Plymouth, Boonesborough and Ellis Island. The text is clear and interesting, and a notes section at the end of the books provides a wonderfully concise explanation of where information came from. KLIATT Codes: J Recommended for junior high school students. 2001, Houghton Mifflin, 48p. illus. maps. notes. index., Levinson