Joan of Arc

Wonderful illustrations. Content accurate for the readers.

A good read for 8 -10 y/olds and read-aloud for younger. The pictures are great and the writing gives enough information to not bore the young reader with too much fact.

Beautiful book both visually and in terms of the language of the text. My 5 year old grandson loves it. Finds bits of it scary but that seems to be part of his enjoyment.

Excellent account for KS2.

Beautiful illustrations

Bought for 6 year old girl, when questions arose as to which Joan Princess Anna was talking to in Frozen! Daughter has learned a lot and is boring her friends senseless with details.

Great.

I was sold on Diane Stanley's juvenile biography of "Joan of Arc" after reading her two-page prologue, "A Hundred Years of War," in which she explains the political situation in France when King Charles VI of France died two months after King Henry V of England. If you remember the end of Shakespeare's "Henry V," then you might be familiar with the agreement that was put into place following the Battle of Agincourt, but how many young readers have really studied that particular bit of English history by the Bard? However, in these two pages Stanley explains why the 19-year-old dauphin, Charles VII, was still uncrowned when Jeannette d'Arc in the small town of Domremy began receiving heavenly visions. Stanley tells the familiar story of Joan of Arc in considerable detail, but always with one eye towards understanding what was happening from the perspective of a seventeen year old girl who road into battle and was proclaimed the savior of France and the other on the historical context of these events. She also pays attention to the details, listing the specific charges for which she was tried and the "confession" that she signed, which are often omitted from similar juvenile biographies, and at the end of her story she pays as much attention to the aftermath of her martyrdom as she did to setting up her life. Throughout the book Stanley makes nice use of historical texts, dropping a lot of quotations and specific lines from the trial transcript and other sources. The text is accompanied by Stanley's illustrations, which are done in the style of the illuminated manuscripts of the time. As a result young readers will get a solid understanding of life of times of the woman called Joan of Arc by history, and be able to tell their friends that the new hit show on CBS should really be called "Jeanette (or Janet) of Arcadia."

I love Diane Stanley's children's biographies! This reads like an exciting chapter book, even as it incorporates details and quotations from primary sources. My kids (1st - 8th grade) were completely engrossed, and begging to finish it when I said we had to save the second half for the next day. The violent end of Joan of Arc's life is not sugar-coated, but is handled quite tastefully. My six-year-old daughter could appreciate the story without inappropriate subjects coming up, while my middle schoolers and I could clearly understand some of the terrible circumstances that plagued her in her captivity and death. Some features I find particularly valuable as an educator include: - Detailed, beautiful, and engaging illustrations to draw readers in and help them to visualize unfamiliar scenes. - Maps drawn especially to accompany pages where specific places are mentioned; they include just enough detail to orient the reader and pique the children's interest, without overwhelming them with too much information - A historical note at the end of the book explaining what source material was used and how it was incorporated. This was written carefully enough that the students were still willing to sit through it as well. Introducing children to the idea of source material, and that how it's handled matters, is extremely important... perhaps more important than it has ever been before. - A clear and concise section guiding readers (including young students) through how to consider the historicity of events surrounding a subject who claimed to see supernatural visions. This facilitated discussion of the difference between observable facts, personal testimony, etc.

Wonderful, just as advertised.

This has a lot of info for a picture book! Enjoyable and good details. This is the specific book scheduled by the Ambleside Online homeschool curriculum for Year 2 (this could change but it has been scheduled in Y2 for a long time and is correct at the time of this review).

My son asked me if there had been any female knights. I thought of Joan of Arc and ordered this book. He was 5 at the time I purchased it and it held his interest all the way through. The illustrations were beautiful and there was just the right level of information / detail. There were some spots where it was tough for me, as I was reading it aloud, to keep track of the timing as far as how many years this was all taking place through, but I think for the intended audience, that is fine, and we can delve further into it with more mature works as the kids get older. All in all, an excellent introduction to Joan of Arc.

I gave this book one star. I thought the story was a bit bland. Then, I gave it to a Sunday School teacher at my church. She used it to tell the children about Joan. She said that the children loved the book.