Editorial Review

This entry in the well-written ‘Our Presidents’ series details Ronald Reagan’s early years in Illinois and California, rise to political life and the accomplishments of his presidency, including an abiding interest in anti-Communism and economics. A variety of photographs show his family, no movie roles but photos taken in Hollywood, and the rest are official political photographs. A one-page section portrays Nancy Reagan and her role in standing by her husband throughout his life. Sidebars include interesting facts and the 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 ar 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.