Conspiracy: Nixon, Watergate, and Democracy’s Defenders

Gr 7-10–Watergate is no small historical event and explaining this event to preteens and young adults needs to be done with a delicate hand. Pearson takes readers from the burglary at the Watergate Hotel through Richard Nixon’s pardon by President Gerald Ford. As the text details the conspiracy, readers get a snapshot of President Nixon’s personality and state of mind. Pearson provides a step-by-step overview of the investigation process. Readers may draw correlations between events that happened almost 50 years ago to current ones. That being said, Watergate was a very complex situation: “The Watergate story was confusing and complicated (it still is), and people didn’t see how it had anything to do with them.” There were many people involved in both sides, which means readers may have a hard time keeping track of all the players and their level of involvement. Tweens and even teens might struggle to follow the narrative. However, Pearson adeptly uses simple language and scaffolding in order to communicate with the intended audience.