Ferdinand Magellan and the first voyage around the world

Gr 4-6-Colorful and compact, these volumes offer solid entry-level reading that is nearly on a par with good adventure fiction. The texts are lively and accessible, and the illustrations are well chosen and diverse: maps, portraits, facsimile letters and documents, historical drawings and paintings, and even photographs of the present-day places that these explorers once roamed. Plentiful sidebars extract main ideas from each chapter or offer interesting trivia about the men and their times. The authors provide a detailed background of the political, social, and sometimes religious forces that inspired the explorers to venture into the unknown. Occasionally, there is subtle fictionalizing in an attempt to explain what these heroes must have been thinking in times of triumph or duress, but it is not awkward or distracting. The glossaries seem incomplete and a bit arbitrary. While these books contain the same basic information found in comparable biographies, their concise, attractive format and crisp writing give them a substantial edge. This is engaging nonfiction that students might first pick up to write a report and then end up reading cover to cover.-William McLoughlin, Brookside School, Worthington, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Illustrated with color reproductions and photographs, the books provide biographical information and track the explorations that made each of these historic figures famous. The tone of the prose is generally casual and somewhat dumbed down, and generic "historians" and "researchers" are often cited to back up statements but remain unnamed in the text. Time lines are included. Bib., glos., ind. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The daring Portuguese mariner who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe. Excerpted from Ferdinand Magellan and the First Voyage Around the World by Jim Gallagher All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.