First people

Gr 5 Up-This rich pictorial work serves as an entertaining, informative, and visually appealing introduction to American Indian culture and history. Each of the seven chapters covers a different time period in chronological order (a detailed time line is included in each), starting with "The Beginning," or the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago during which the first humans are believed to have arrived in North America via the Bering Strait. One chapter describes in handsome spreads the diverse and varied cultures within geographic regions, from the early Mound Builders to the Arctic and Subarctic tribes. Three chapters focus on the coming of the Europeans, the resulting conflict, and the often devastating impact that contact had on tribal life. The remaining two chapters describe life on reservations, assimilation, and the American Indian Movement, which started in the 1960s and remains active today. The glossy photographs, colorful drawings, and easily accessible paragraphs are similar in layout to the "Eyewitness" books (DK) and make for an easy-to-use overall package. However, this book is much longer and broader in scope than titles in that series and is best suited to more mature readers for browsing or as a supplemental resource for reports.-Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.