History is so much fun to study when you are able to bring it to life. Famous Figures of the Renaissance by Cathy Diez-Luckie, aims to help with that task by giving students a hands-on approach to learning about important people from that era. The book contains ten 13-inch figures illustrated in authentic period costume for children cut out from sturdy cardstock and assemble using a hole-punch and brass fasteners. Completed figures are perfect for use in presentations, narrations, stop-motion videos, or just fun learning play. Children can color their own figures using the black and white line drawings, or use the full-color figures included. When attached to craft sticks or pipe cleaners, the completed figures can be used like puppets to retell history, act out historic events, or let the characters “talk” about their lives.

In addition to the figures themselves, the book includes biographical information about each of the eight men and two women featured. These are names every student of history should know: Gutenberg, Martin Luther, Isabella I, Shakespeare, and more. All the people in this book helped shape history in their time, making the book a fun supplement for any history curriculum. The included Renaissance Reading List has suggestions to help students learn even more about them, and there are coloring pages, puzzles, and activities available to download at FiguresInMotion.com for even more learning opportunities. The book also mentions downloadable scripts to use with the figures, but they are not yet available. The author assures me they are still planned and will be on the website once they are completed.

My second grader has loved using these Famous Figures to go along with our history studies, and I think they'd be enjoyable for any elementary student (and possibly even older). My 8-year old son cut out and put together several of the pre-colored figures all on his own (the parts are clearly labeled for easy assembly), then shared them with his younger siblings. He reinforced what he was learning by teaching them about the different people and instructing them in how they should act.  When we finished studying each person, we saved the figures in his history notebook by slipping them into plastic sheet protectors, and he has often gone back to get them out for further play.  My daughter enjoys coloring more than my sons, and I'm sure as she gets older, she'll want to color in her own figures as we go back through our history cycle.

Our family has now used three books in the Famous Figures series as we move through our study of history. They stir my children's imaginations and engage them in history by helping them enter into the world of times gone by. I look forward to using the other books in the series.

—Product Review by Deanna Jasper, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May, 2016