Editorial Review

This entry in the well-written ‘Our Presidents’ series provides an overview of James Monroe, his years in Virginia, and his contributions. All illustrations are taken from art, etchings, and cartoons of the day. One-page sections include ones on the Monroe Doctrine, Monroe’s fascination with the West, and his beautiful mansion, Highland. Sidebars add interesting facts and picture captions are informative and lengthy enough to inform casual browsers. Each book in the series ends with a glossary defining highlighted words in the text, a timeline specific to the president’s life, a complete table of presidents through George W. Bush with their home states, life spans, presidential spans, political party and the name of their first ladies. Included are a page of ‘Presidential Facts’ and numerous web sites and relevant suggested other resources, as well as an index. All in all, it’s a strong, informative, and very readable contribution to the literature about presidents for upper elementary and middle school readers.