Motivated to action by the appalling dullness of her daughter’s history textbooks, Joy Hakim has produced a ground-breaking series that demonstrates that history can be a delight to study.

"Joy Hakim has avoided almost all the pitfalls of books written by committees. She tells history as a series of interesting stories about fascinating people," writes Rob Shearer of Greenleaf Press.

"I marvel at what Joy Hakim has done. She’s set just the right tone, sustained the interest, examined what history is and what it is not, and written a book of real substance that speaks directly to children…," says Jean Fritz.

I've used this series with my three older children -- before entering high school I have them complete all 10 volumes.  My sons then found it a helpful reference tool for Advanced Placement U.S. history.  Even though intended for elementary level, it will hold the interest of every reader in your family.  If you like Ken Burns' documentaries, you'll like Joy Hakim.  As with every history book -- you will find at points you don't agree with Hakim's biases, that is why we always use more than one resource for a course.   The study guides are an excellent tool for teaching the material to a group of kids, or for asking an older student ( even a 9th or 10 th grader) to complete the material independently.

Reading level 5^th and up. Great for reading aloud.