Fault Lines in the Constitution by Cynthia and Sanford Levinson

This is an informational book that is getting a lot of attention this fall.  In it the authors talk about some of the provisions of the Constitution that have made it difficult for the government to run smoothly.  There are chapters on the Electoral College, the uneven representation in Congress, the difficulty in making amendments and others.  In each chapter they discuss how the provision started and specific troubles is has caused in modern times. They end each chapter, and the whole book, with ideas of how the Constitution could be improved.

In all honesty, I can't really see kids picking this off the shelf. What kid wants to read a 235 page book about the Constitution? I could also see a lot of conservative parents getting upset about this.  When I was young no teacher or textbook would have pointed out how badly the Constitution works. This book is practically calling for a its repeal.  Still, I feel like I understand the different provisions of the document much better than before I read this book.  The authors are really straight forward and clear in how they explained things.  If I were a parent of a 7th grader, I might bribe them over the summer to read this just because it would help them in all the rest of their social studies classes. (2017, 235 p.)