Castles and Palaces

K-Gr 2—These attractive books take beginning readers into the world of historical and contemporary royalty and knights, providing basic introductions and examples of families, their work and activities, and homes. Designed to conform to national elementary standards, the titles each have word counts of about 180, first-grade reading levels, and simple text structures with repetition of key words. The uncluttered spreads feature bright, full-page color photos or illustrations on the right and a few sentences on the left. The photo captions-which include the names of a diverse group of rulers, castles, and countries drawn from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East-will be most challenging for the intended audience to read and/or take in. Glossaries offer simple definitions of challenging vocabulary. Suitable for both reading aloud and independent reading, these volumes will have broad appeal.