Editorial Review

This entry in the well-written ‘Our Presidents’ series provides an overview of John Quincy Adams, his early years in Massachusetts and with his father during the Continental Congress meetings in Philadelphia, and again in Europe as a young boy. All illustrations are taken from art, etchings, and cartoons of the day. One-page sections feature ones about the Amistad Affair, Adams’ troubled siblings, and his wife’s unusual education for a girl of the day. 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.