Westward, Ho!: How America Expanded

by Darren Sechrist

From the Alamo to the Oregon Trail, "Westward Ho!" graphically illustrates how pioneers fought, died, and flourished as America expanded west. Readers who might not be interested in history will love this book.

Genres: Graphic Novels

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2008

Reviews

[Barbara Radisavljevic]

This is graphical history for reluctant readers. It gives the highlights of the westward movement for upper elementary and middle school students, but reluctant readers in even higher grades could benefit if they can be encouraged to read this format. I liked this much better than Inventors and Inventions (also by this author in this series). My guess is that the author was more interested in this subject. The dialog is a bit more realistic in this book than in the other and didn't seem as stilted. As in the other books in this series, the time line, glossary, and index are in upper case white letters on black background and there are no colons between words and their definitions in the glossary.

I would recommend this for students who might have difficulty reading more conventional books on this period or as a review for other students. It only hits some of the highlights of the period in a general way, but the content is limited by the size and format of this book. I think the book serves its purpose well.