Kubla Khan: The Emperor of Everything Book

A pretty awesome and interesting book for children about the life of Kubla Khan, Mongolian conqueror of China and much of the Eastern world in the 1200's--in essence, a total badass (but as a ruler, a fair and wise badass). The author didn't cite her sources in the text, but she did include in the back a disclaimer that the details of Kubla's life were sketchy and a list of sources that she used. During the story, she also made statements like "according to legend" to make it clear that what she was about to relate was not necessarily true. She also made it fairly clear when she was talking about Kubla's life specifically and when she was talking about Mongolian life of the period in general. She makes the argument that in some ways, Kubla had a role in the eventual European expansion into the New World since he opened his territory to visits from the West early on, especially and significantly that of Marco Polo.

The illustrator also had a comment that there is no definitive historical representation of Kubla Khan, so he used a compilation of different images for his depiction (incidentally, the illustrator was also the artist for Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!, the 2008 Newbery Medal winner). Fantastic, detailed, and colorful artwork.