Author:  Cathy Travis

ISBN-10: 1-933538-01-05

The following review was contributed by:  Shelley Bueché,  Click Here To Read More of Shelley's Reviews

This book should be in every library and home across the country--it is an excellent reference guide to the United States Constitution.  The text is written in a fifth grade level, but is a perfectly suited for older readers as well.

From the publisher:  “Constitution Translated for Kids is a simple translation of the entire U.S. Constitution, written at the fifth grade level, with the original 1787 text alongside a translation in the first ever side-by-side look at our most supreme legal and political document.”

Travis’ book is filled with historical information, Fast Facts (as “The U.S. Constitution is the shortest, and the oldest Constitution, of any government in the world.”), alphabetical list of Words to

Look at While You Are Reading (from Amended to Warrant), Student Exercise in Democracy (“If you had the chance to add to the United States Constitution now, or in the next five years, to improve our democracy, what would you do?”), The Math of a Presidential Campaign (listing of states along with the number of electoral votes they each have, through the year 2012) and What Constitutional Privilege Do These Things Violate?  (As:  Someone is arrested, but the police don’t tell him/her the reason for the arrest) all in a fast-paced and easily digestible format that is sure to please readers of all ages.

Author Cathy Travis has worked as a communications strategist for over twenty years.  She is currently a communications director for Texas congressman Solomon Ortiz.  After Travis viewed some of Ross Perot’s “glaring misinterpretations of the Constitution” in the 1992 televised presidential debates, she felt compelled to educate the American public about the Constitution.   Hence, her idea for a book:  Constitution Translated for Kid’s,  became a reality.

It is a sad state of affairs, when, according to the publisher, “Americans know more about the ‘Simpson’s’ television show than they know about the First Amendment”.  Moreover, only one in four Americans can name one of the five freedoms guaranteed us by the First Amendment.  Ever the knowledgeable bunch, Americans can name at least two members of the Simpson family, according to a study conducted by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum.  To take this gloomy statistic one step further, the survey also “found more people could name the three American Idol judges than identify three First Amendment rights.”

Read Travis’ imminently readable book and become one of the minorities in America, that is someone who can absorb and remember facts from the 1787 Constitution.