African Americans and American Indians Fighting in the Revolutionary War by John Micklos Jr.

Book Genre: Non-fiction

Publishing Info: Enslow Publishers Inc. (48 pages)

Awards: None

Summary: As the title suggests, this book discusses aspects of African Americans and Native Americans during the Revolutionary War. It starts by giving the reader basic background into the roles of African Americans and Native Americans and events that led up to the war. The following chapters briefly describe how the two races chose sides and what their roles and conflicts were during the war. The final chapter describes events that took place and effected there lives after the war had ended.

Personal Rating: ***Good. I like the organization of the text. It contains a Table of Contents, an index, glossary, very good illustrations, and a Revolutionary War timeline. Also, there is a section of the book that lists references by chapter. What I especially like about this book is that there is a section called "Future Reading" that lists content area books and websites for expanded studies. However, the book doesn't go very in-depth with information.

Reading Level: 5.2
Interest Level: 5-6

Possible uses in reading and writing across the curriculum: NCSCOS for fifth grade include teaching about the Revolutionary War. This would be a good book to include in a unit for teaching those objectives. The book is too short to use for a book report except maybe for students who are not on grade level. On the other hand, it does mention several people and events that could lead to more in-depth research.

Potential Problems or difficulties: You might have to have a discussion about slavery and racism but by fifth or sixth grade most students are aware of what went on in the past.