Castles (Built to Last)

Kindergarten-Grade 2—Bodden focuses on the building process and uses of each of these structures. Each spread has a few sentences in large type, one or two color photographs or reproductions of period art, and a short additional fact in smaller type that sometimes acts as a caption, but that adds little information. The organization is curious, such as the coverage of dungeons and imprisonment on the last page of Castles, an odd note on which to leave readers. Additionally, many of the illustrations are of poor quality. Mosques is the most successful of these titles and provides a clear introduction to Islam as well as to the uses of the different rooms in the building. Even here, however, the content is so basic that it isn't very compelling.