Social Studies

Children's Literature Review June 2010—Soccer player Ethan Zahn used the million dollars he won the Survivor TV series to parley his interest in soccer into Grassroot Soccer, a non-profit dedicated to AIDS education and prevention. This book is one of a series that features Ethan visiting a young soccer player in another country. Despite the series title, “Explore the World through Soccer,” the game itself plays a minor role in this informational book. Instead the framework allows the book to deliver a potpourri of facts about the history, culture, geography of the host country, along with some science facts and activities. The information is divided into chapters; rather than photos, the illustrations are graphic novel style, in keeping with the layout. The readable text is dotted with pull-outs featuring smaller chunks of information or vocabulary.
Tonic.com May 2010 —Ethan Zohn's children's book is simply the best.
Jack Bell, New York Times May 2010—An early winner of the CBS show “Survivor,” Zohn took his $1 million prize and dived into the world of philanthropy with Grassroots Soccer (an organization that promotes AIDS awareness in Africa) and other projects. This is a children’s book written by a guy who is a child at heart.

Jack Bell, New York Times May 2010— An early winner of the CBS show “Survivor,” Zohn took his $1 million prize and dived into the world of philanthropy with Grassroots Soccer (an organization that promotes AIDS awareness in Africa) and other projects. This is a children’s book written by a guy who is a child at heart.
Children's Literature Review June 2010 — Ethan Zohn, a real-life professional soccer player, invites the reader to take a trip with him to South Africa. He meets a new friend there, an eight-year-old girl named Tawela, who shows him how they play “street soccer” in her country. The two of them later travel to Johannesburg, where they watch a soccer match played in front of tens of thousands of people. Along the way, they visit unusual places and learn about the geography, customs, and cultures of South Africa. They also discover a wealth of information about physics, geology, and other sciences. This is that rare book that successfully combines history and science with human interest. Told in first person by Mr. Zohn, the story immediately captures and holds the attention of the reader. Mr. Zohn often addresses the reader with thought-provoking comments intended to get his audience to picture what life is like in other countries. The scientific information is reinforced by the inclusion in the book of simple experiments that children can perform with the aid of grown-ups. The book stresses the idea of soccer as a means to bring people together to build cooperation and understanding. Mr. Zohn and his co-author, David Rosenberg, emphasize that they “want to make a difference for those who need our help,” and at the back of the book they provide suggestions for readers on ways to support charitable groups benefiting South Africa. Mr. Zohn has proved himself to be an able ambassador for soccer and for people around the globe in this book, which is intended to be the first in a series of “Soccer World” books.
Tonic.com May 2010 — Ethan Zohn's children's book is simply the best .
 

GEEKDAD Wired Magazine April 28, 2010 — World Myths and Legends can quickly become a favorite due to it being about some of the most exciting and fantastical stories in existence. I’ve had this book for several weeks and we’re not even 25% into completing the crafts.,, I haven’t seen my nine year old excited about a book like this for a while.

Charlotte Library 5/10/10 —Although this book might sound like a fairly ordinary craft book, it is much more--it is also an excellent introduction to the cultures and myths of a diverse selection of peoples, and one I highly recommend to home-schoolers in particular. . . The projects themselves are extremely varied, and go beyond simple craft-ness. For instance, one activity for the Greek section is to use Euclidian geometry to make an equilateral triangle--fun with compasses!  The point is that these are rather cool projects, such as I have never seen elsewhere.

Booklist May 15, 2010— Casual and informative, this large, attractive, browsable paperback in the Build It Yourself series offers a view of contemporary African life that reaches far beyond the usual scenery-and-wildlife tourists’ perspective. Blending history, culture, and tradition with politics and life in both cities and rural areas, the chapters begin with a look at natural wonders and dangerous wildlife that will grab readers, then move onto historical discussions of humankind’s birthplace and early civilizations. Views of daily life today show the continent’s vast diversity: in a city apartment, a teen might surf the Internet, but most Africans live in smaller, more rural communities, where there may be no electricity or running water. The author also discusses AIDS orphans, many of whom live homeless in the streets of shantytowns. The open design includes sketches on every page. Many readers may skip the craft projects––make your own Maasai beaded necklace, kente cloth, woven basket, galimoto doll, and much more––and go straight to the facts.