Pamela's Reviews > A Place Called America: A Story of the Land and People

Starting circa 15,000 years ago, each spread has a time period or year on a banner at the top, indicating which time period is being discussed. Most of the spreads also include a map to help illustrate settlements and movement. Sometimes a century at a time, sometimes a decade, sometimes one year only, each spread shares some important information about how people at that time moved to or around the land we now call the United States of America. This book is not about specific people or the contributions of Americans to the world. It is instead about the people who were here, both indigenous people and immigrants, during different periods of time, and how they treated each other and newcomers. I think the author does a good job sharing the ideals of our country while also not shying away from how we have not lived up to those ideals in many ways throughout our history. I love the maps, but think the other illustrations do not have much kid appeal. At about 55 (unnumbered) pages, a larger-than-typical trim size, and 2-5 paragraphs of text on most spreads, this book touches on a lot of eras and broad movements. The front and back endpapers contain a timeline with over 150 events listed. The end notes include an afterward, mostly about maps, and select sources. This is for those kids enthralled w history but may not be ready for chapter books yet, or a student who wants/needs a good overview of how America got to look like it does today.