The invaluable grade-by-grade guide (kindergarten—sixth) is designed to help parents and teachers select some of the best books for children. Books to Build On recommends: • for kindergartners, lively collections of poetry and stories, such as The Children’s Aesop, and imaginative alphabet books such as Bill Martin, Jr.’s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Lucy Micklewait’s I Spy: An Alphabet in Art • for first graders, fine books on the fine arts, such as Ann Hayes’s Meet the Orchestra , the hands-on guide My First Music Book, and the thought-provoking Come Look with Me  series of art books for children • for second graders, books that open doors to world cultures and history, such as Leonard Everett Fisher’s The Great Wall of China and Marcia Willaims’s humorous Greek Myths for Young Children • for third graders, books that bring to life the wonders of ancient Rome, such as Living in Ancient Rome , and fascinating books about astronomy, such as Seymour Simon’s Our Solar System • for fourth graders, engaging books on history, including Jean Fritz’s Shh! We're Writing the Constitution, and many books on Africa, including the stunningly illustrated story of Sundiata: Lion King of Mali • for fifth graders, a version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that retains much of the original language but condenses the play for reading or performance by young students, and Michael McCurdy’s Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass • for sixth graders, an eloquent retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the well-written American history series, A History of US . . . and many, many more! Although this work is designed as a supplement to the Core Knowledge series ( What Your Kindergartener Should Know , etc.), it could serve as a useful, accessible annotated bibliography for both parents and teachers. Hirsch is the author of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know , which was the impetus for the Core Knowledge movement. The arrangement is simple. There are seven main curricular areas: Language Arts, World History and Geography, American History and Geography, Visual Arts, Music, Science, and Math. Each of these areas is divided by grade levels (K^-6) and then by other topical subdivisions, under which are annotated 5 to 10 books and other media, such as software or recordings. The topics do not remain constant across all the grade levels, so it could not be used to find books at all grade levels on dinosaurs or Roman history. Each entry notes the publisher and date of publication. There is no indication of ISBN, binding, or whether the item is available in another format or medium. The reading level is not indicated for any of the titles. Items that the authors "admire most" are designated "CC," or Core Collection. The book begins with an essay by Hirsch and Holdren that details their philosophy and rationale. Each of the seven main subject areas begins with an introduction that lays a curricular foundation and sketches the scope and sequence for the subject. These introductory essays also contain information about the philosophy of Core Knowledge schools that would be helpful to people who are interested in school reform and the elementary canon. The book has a single subject, title, author, and illustrator index. The addresses of some special vendors are included in appropriate annotations. Like The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children , this is a popular rather than a professional tool, but libraries that serve Core Knowledge communities or schools of education will find it useful. E. D. Hirsch, Jr., is an emeritus professor at the University of Virginia and the author of The Knowledge Deficit, The Schools We Need, and the bestselling Cultural Literacy and the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy . He and his wife, Polly, live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they raised their three children. LANGUAGE ARTS   Introduction   Language Arts is a term used by schools to refer to reading and writing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, creative writing, expository writing, library and research skills, literature, drama, public speaking, and more. While all of these should be taught at some point, the emphasis varies according to grade level.   In the primary grades—kindergarten through third grade—the emphasis of schools must be, first and foremost, on the crucial mission of early education: teaching children to read. As Elizabeth McPike of the American Federation of Teachers has put it, in no uncertain terms,   If a child in a modern society like ours does not learn to read, he doesn’t make it in life. If he doesn’t learn to read well enough to comprehend what he is reading, if he doesn’t learn to read effortlessly enough to render reading pleasurable, if he doesn’t learn to read fluently enough to read broadly and reflectively across all content areas, his chances for a fulfilling life, by whatever measure—academi