I Am Harriet Tubman - Brad Meltzer Blog Tour

I am a huge history fan, if it is new and It is history, it is on my 'to read' list. When I was chosen to review a new book for children on a major person of the civil war, I was beyond excited. I think it is such a great idea that there are so many books geared for younger audiences on history. Alot of books released a while back just could not keep a readers attention. The best part about this book is that it does manage to do that. But I did have a few issues with this book.

The part of this book that bothered me the most is the sheer fact that they kept Tubman the size of a child throughout the whole book. While all of the other characters were the correct size for their age, the illustrator always decided to make Tubman appear as a child, even when she was in her 80's.

Another part of the book that bothered me was how the characters spoke. I found it very hard to follow at some points If I am being honest. If a younger child who is the correct age for picture books were to pick this up, I'm not sure if they would honestly enjoy it.

Now for the pros.

For one (as I said above) I adored the fact that publishers are trying to market history to the younger audiences. Children are much more likely to want to learn about something if they are given an accessible way to learn it.

Finally, the book does manage to keep the readers attention. This book is full color and school aged children who are just learning to read love to have pictures in their books. Most non-fiction history books contain no pictures (or if they do, they are just in black and white) and the kids won't be as apt to read that as they would a book with full color.

In other words, this is an okay book. I found all of the info it contained to be true. It would be a great book for a teacher to have on hand for students to read as it gives them alot of info quickly.

AUTHOR

Brad Meltzer is the New York Times bestselling author of Heroes for My Son, Heroes for My Daughter, and a number of suspense novels like The House of Secrets. He is also the host of the History Channel television shows Brad Meltzer's Decoded and Brad Meltzer's Lost History. He lives in Florida with his wife and their three children.

ILLUSTRATOR

Christopher Eliopoulos began his illustration career at Marvel Comics, and has worked on thousands of comics, including Cosmic Commandos (Summer 2017), Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius, Pet Avengers, and Cow Boy, all of which he wrote and illustrated. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and their identical twin sons.

I got this book for free from the publisher but it in no way influnced my review.