Rachel EagenPonce de León: Exploring Florida and Puerto Rico (In the Footsteps of Explorers, 8)

This is a great reference source about the Spanish explorer and first governor of Puerto Rico. The vocabulary is appropriate for 4th to 6th graders. Text features are usually important for this kind of book. Its large font, accompanied by an abundance of illustrations, real photos, background charts, and sidebars with important facts and dates, makes this a reader-friendly text. The colorful presentation and the font sizes certainly aim at arousing readers' interest in the subject matter. The handling of text features in this book was simply effective, economical, and provoking.Content-wise, this text also merits 5 stars. Not only do we find out about Pone de Leon's life; readers also learn about: the historical background of the discovery and conquest; the origins of Florida's name; the names of the different types of embarkations used in those days; the lives of the natives, such as the Tainos and the Calusa Indians; the lifestyle of sailors; and new vocabulary. Readers not only get to learn new key words, often boldfaced and whose definitions appear in the glossary, but they also encounter other words in context, such as caravels (the name of a ship) and harquebuses (the name of a weapon).This is the first of this collection I have read and it is certainly a treat. For teachers covering the subject of exploration, this is a five-star complementary text that deserves its place in the classroom.

A good reading of history for both young and old.

School lessons for 5th grader

Gifted this to my nephew along with other books.Easy for him to understand.

My grand son enjoyed reading these history stories

Make sure you check your order detail! I thought this was a full paperback. It's a children's illustrated book for grades 3-6..

Thank you