Secrets of American History World War II Secret Agents! Sharks! Ghost Armies!

Secret Agents! Sharks! Ghost Armies!: World War II (Secrets of American History)is a Level 3 Ready to Read non-fiction book.

I am always pleased to see authors taking on the challenge of providing accurate age appropriate history books for children. Ready to Read has developed the Secrets of American History series to address this need. This is the first one I've encountered and I was interested to review it.

The leveled reader format is always a limiting one, as it forces the author to control the reading level, vocabulary, and format of the material. With that in mind this book was strongest when it focused on limited topics. The introduction to the war was weak as it was hard to explain within the limits of a leveled reader format. However, the sections that explained the attempts at shark repellent and the Ghost Army were strong. I recently read an adult book about the Ghost Army, I haven't seen much in children's lit that addresses this so I found the information presented here quite interesting and it was written in an age appropriate manner that students could understand.

The section on the female spy Virginia Hall was strong because it took the limited time it had to focus on one spy instead of spying as a general topic. It also addressed a topic not generally found in children's literature women in World War II, which makes it a unique resource for World War II literature for children.

Sadly, the book ends on a weaker note going off topic with a page about sharks and then trying to move back on topic about with two more short biographies of Josephine Baker and Roald Dahl's spying during the war. If I'd been an editor I'd have left out the sharks and increased the information on Baker and Dahl, which was relevant and interesting.

While I think the series could be improved with some editing, I am pleased to see a move towards more non-fiction leveled readers. It gives children access to material written at levels they can read. I do think with editing these books can get better and be an even better resource for educating children about a variety of non-fiction material.