I took my time reading this over the summer, referring to the definitions for unusual words, and looking over the explanatory notes. (I'll admit that I thought I wouldn't ever need the definitions, and that they were strictly for young readers. But it was nice to make sure I was correctly remembering what an emolument was.) Dr. Bain has reorganized the text into small chunks that are easy to deal with and grouped all the relevant amendments with the original portion of the document that they refer to. This makes reading it and seeing how it has been changed and adapted over the years much easier. He has also noted which provisions from the original Constitution and the amendments have become obsolete due to time, or have been nullified by later amendments. The detailed list of contents is very helpful when you are looking for a particular details, such as "due process of law."
Now that school is back in session, I have placed this book on the "Teacher Resource" shelf in the library so that my colleagues who teach social studies/history may use it as needed. The fourth grade studies the early development of the republic and traces the formation of our government and such documents as the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, and the Articles of Confederation which predated and influenced the Constitution. The fifth grade will be studying Women's Rights and the Civil Rights Movement, which also depends greatly on understanding the Constitution. I'm sure that this new format will make it much easier to use for instruction and learning.
I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher to review.
No comments:
Post a Comment