Spies! Historical past Books for Children 3 E-book Field Set: For Children Ages 8-12 (Spies in Historical past for Children)

An interesting topic to focus on
I personally find history books very interesting and I enjoy reading them. However, I feel like as a child, you really don’t have much perspective on the importance of history. I would dare to say that you really can’t appreciate history books as much until you get older. Whats great about these book is at least they try to find an interesting topic to spark curiosity in the readers. The books do say that they are for kids eight through twelve. I absolutely agree with this. A child under eight years old is going to quickly lose interest and not appreciate some of the complexity. Depending on the reader, I think these books could be used as pleasure reading or a resource for further exploration of lessons learned. The books are very dense with information and definitely take the reader on a journey. I have thoroughly enjoyed this box set and have enjoyed reading it together with my oldest son.

Solid Intro to Espionage for Kids
Introducing children to history at an early age is very important. Telling them exciting stories helps them enjoy the field and spurs an interest. Espionage is a topic that catches many people’s attention and those tales can do the same for kids. These three books present the story of spies and their methods in the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II. Each book covers methods, codes, ciphers, and the important figures in each era. The role of women in espionage is highlighted, much more than I normally see and I think that is a strong plus. The WWII volume includes discussions of the enigma and purple machines, code talkers, and Benchley Park. The inclusion of Julia Child, Josephine Baker, Ian Fleming, and Roald Dahl can help students connect the spies to wider cultural history. That makes for a great starting point for classroom or home school discussions. I don’t see any particular “bent” in terms of historiography so the books are generally pretty good in their presentation of history. However, the Civil War volume includes a muddled discussion of Preston Brooks caning of Charles Sumner. I am not sure why this incident is included, it has nothing to do with espionage. The author states that Brooks caned Sumner because of a speech that attacked slavery. That is not true. Brooks attacked Sumner because in that speech, Sumner personally insulted another member of Congress who was old and unable to defend himself. Brooks beat Sumner because of that insult, not because of slavery. Regardless of whether one approves his actions, Brooks’ reason for the attach should be presented correctly. I have taught history at levels from middle school to college for thirty years and believe we should be accurate, especially when speaking to children. Again, I don’t know why this incident was even included, but it is misrepresented. Overall I like these books, they would be great for a classroom or home school for the appropriate age group. The illustrations are nice and the reading level challenge is moderate.

Great Series!
I really enjoyed this set of books! They’re very informative, and are filled with interesting details. I already knew a lot of what they covered, since I’m a history major, but I learned some new things and was reminded of others, and I’m glad I had the chance to read these. Here are my reviews of each individual title.AMERICAN REVOLUTION – 5 StarsThis book about espionage during the American Revolution is fascinating, and the author did a great job contextualizing things for kids. This book will mainly appeal to history buffs, but it’s accessible to anyone, and it’s full of interesting details about how people from different backgrounds worked as spies to assist the war effort.The book covers a variety of different spies, sharing true stories about men and women who gained and shared vital information in many different ways. The people, spy methods, and other activities involved differ so much that the book stays very engaging and never seems repetitive or stale, and the author always makes it clear when something is uncertain or open to speculation, versus clearly established in the historical record. The book also shares information about spies on the British side.This book is very well-organized, and it includes map images and other illustrations that support the reader in understanding the text. This is intended for kids in the 8-12 age range, and it will also appeal to older readers. The author keeps this appropriate for kids without dumbing anything down, and she also provides context for issues like slavery without lecturing the reader or focusing on side tangents. She trusts the reader to understand that slavery was wrong without sermonizing about it, and she acknowledges social ills while still celebrating the good and inspiring things about American history.CIVIL WAR – 3 StarsThis book about espionage in the American Civil War is written around a middle school reading level. It was more nuanced than I expected, and the author did a decent job of explaining the causes of the war. However, he indicates that the Union was more broadly anti-slavery than it was. The author makes it sound like the Northern states moved on from slavery quickly and easily after the Revolution, and like anti-slavery views were the expected social norm there. This doesn’t represent how hard abolitionists in the North worked for generations to change people’s minds and make them care.The author provides a lot of context for the war, going into detail about notable people, strategies, battles, and other events. This is a bonus for someone who doesn’t know much about the Civil War already, but if someone is already familiar with Civil War history and wants to read about spies specifically, they may be disappointed that spies and spy technology get less attention in favor of an introductory history lesson. Also, there are occasional problems with organization, like when the author rehashes the same information in different chapters because a similar person or topic has come up again.Although some things are oversimplified to the point of inaccuracy and could have been organized better, this book is a good source of information overall. The author contextualizes the war’s events, introduces a number of significant people who were involved in it, and shares interesting details about how essential spies were in the outcome of many battles and the war itself. I much preferred the book about the American Revolution from the same series, but this one has a lot of good aspects as well.WORLD WAR II – 4 StarsThis book about espionage during World War II features lots of interesting information, and it’s presented in an accessible way for older elementary readers and up. There are inevitable tragic details included, due to the nature of the topic, but this book doesn’t dwell on violence or delve into all of the harsh and difficult details involved in some of the stories it briefly profiles.The author provides context for understanding the war and the different countries involved in it, introduces some of the different spy networks involved, and gives examples of different attributes that were important for spies. Further in, the book includes short biographical sketches about notable spies, shows ways that espionage significantly impacted the course of the war, and describes some different technologies and spy tools that people invented or used again during this era.There are some sidebars and illustrations throughout the book. I found the sidebars somewhat distracting, since there were fake censored black-out marks between some of the words, and this would have been better off with actual photographs instead of illustrations to represent the spies and different tools they used. The illustration style fits with the other books in this series, but since WWII is much more recent history, it seems odd that there aren’t any photos. Also, the book can occasionally feel somewhat dry, since the author is taking such a broad focus and isn’t dramatizing any suspenseful details, just summarizing things. Nonetheless, this offers a wealth of information for kids who are interested in WWII and spies, and it can be a great jumping-off point for learning more.