Everything You Need To Ace American History in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide

Gr 5–8—Billing itself as a comprehensive study guide, this book has the appearance and content of a good set of student notes. Pages are ruled like notebook paper, and the font looks like hand printing. Chronological "units," divided into shorter chapters, closely follow the content arrangement of many American history texts, from the earliest human inhabitants of North America to the Iraq War and Obama's election. Rothman summarizes the main concepts and details of the themes, events, and important people and dates of U.S. history, devoting about a paragraph to each topic. The limited interpretation and analysis are consistent with mainstream historical thought and scholarship. Organization is student-friendly, with headings in green type, key history information in blue, and yellow-highlighted general vocabulary terms that are defined in adjacent boxes. Sidebars provide limited supplemental information, and there are numerous maps but no index. The few illustrations look like student doodles and usually have a humorous take on history. "Check Your Knowledge" questions end each chapter and are answered on following pages. More textbook content-oriented than various editions of Kenneth C. Davis's "Don't Know Much" series overviews of American history, this book is exactly what it claims to be—a study guide. More volumes, covering science, world history, and other subjects, are publishing simultaneously—all titles meet Common Core State Standards.