A photographic tour

"Track the facts about the Alamo, the Galveston hurricane, and the great state of Texas! When Jack and Annie came back from their adventure in Magic Tree House #30: Hurricane Heroes in Texas, they had lots of questions. Why is Texas called the Lone Star State? What was the Alamo? When was the Galveston hurricane? Why was it so terrible? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts about Texas. Filled with up-to-date information, photographs, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie, the Fact Trackers are the perfect way for kids to find out more about the topics they discover in their favorite Magic Tree House adventures. Did you know that there's a Magic Tree House book for every kid? Magic Tree House: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures"-- "A history of the state of Texas including the Galveston hurricane of 1900"--

This is a welcome mini-successor to Charlton Tebeau's out-of-print A History of Florida. Gannon (history, Univ. of Florida) has updated coverage of the state's long history to include minorities, women, and environmental concerns through the year of Hurricane Andrew, focusing more on social than political history. The book contains some minor factual errors: the town of Cedar Key is misspelled several times as Cedar Keys, which is an offshore wildlife refuge; Gannon laments the exclusionary policies of the Universities of Miami and Florida, which in the 1940s excluded blacks from sports teams, while ignoring the opportunities then afforded African Americans at A&M College, which produced renowned athletes Willie Gallimore and Althea Gibson. Despite these slips, Gannon's work belongs on all library shelves.