I have to say that I may be one of the most unusual homeschooling/classics reading/living books-loving moms out there for this reason: I really do not like D’Aulaire’s book about Leif Erikson (Leif the Lucky). And this is not just the case with Leif Erickson. The more of the other D’Aulaires historical books I read (Pocahontas, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln) the less I like them! I grew up loving the D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, so I feel horrible about hating their historical books.
The pictures are scary looking and distorted, the text is far too long to keep a young child’s attention, and the facts and stories they tell are extraneous and somewhat boring at times. I even question the validity of some of the claims in the stories. (I question my decision to mark this post as “nonfiction picture book.) My son did not want to keep reading them either: he was not a fan. As a result, I really did not have any good books about Leif Erikson and the Vikings at this time, other than the Maestro text (more on this in a separate post).
