Marco Polo (Great Names)

John Riddle is a freelance writer and author from Bear, Delaware. His byline has appeared in major newspapers, magazines and Websites. He is the author of 34 books, including Lintball Leo's Not So Stupid Questions About Your Body, For God and Country, and The Story of the Pony Express. He is a presenter at both Christian and secular writers conferences across the country, and last year spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. He is the Founder of Love To Write Day, a grassroots effort to have people of all ages write something every November 15th. Last year 12,007 schools all across the country held special writing events and activities. For more information, please visit www.ilovetowriteday.org

Gr 3-6-Although information about people of importance is indeed provided, the books have insurmountable problems in terms of format and content. Throughout the series, the blocks of text are not easy to follow and the narrative, which is at times in first person and others third person, does not flow well and is often clunky. Potential religious bias is evident in Mother Teresa: "She also believed that all people, born and unborn, have a right to live and be cared for." The uncaptioned illustrations are matched to the texts but can be distracting rather than complementary. No tables of content or indexes are provided in any of the books, pages are not numbered, and only Shakespeare has any kind of chronology. α(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journal. LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.