Brainjuice: American history, fresh squeezed

Shields, C.D. (2002). Brainjuice: American history fresh squeezed. Brooklyn, NY: Handprint Books.

Interest level: Grades 4-8

Books in this series offer a sometimes humorous look at different curricular topics through poetry. In this volume, the top of each page features a timeline of events that impacted American History. The poems are arranged chronologically, with the first one being about the very first Americans- dinosaurs and ending with a poem about the September 11th attacks from the Statue of Liberty's viewpoint. Each poem features illustrations that further the understanding of what the poem is about.

This is a good book for anyone interested in American History. It would be a particularly good classroom resource either before or after a particular topic is discussed to grab students' interest. For instance the poem "Job Available," which is about Sacajawea and the Lewis and Clark Expedition ("Opening for a teenage girl/ (With baby in a pack):/ Help lead an expedition/ Twelve hundred miles and back...") could be used as an interest grabber when starting the unit and also as a wrap up poem to refresh students' memories. All books in this series would also be good for poetry units in English classes.