We recently removed most of our coffee table decorations from the old trunk that sits in front of our love seat and replaced them with a few books. For about a month now, I’ve had a fun book for *me* on the table which I’ll blog about in another entry. Realizing that TOADY is Flag Day gave me a good reason to pull some books off from our shelves to display on the coffee table and perhaps we’ll even get around to *reading* them. I find if they are out and about instead of on our shelves we tend to thumb through them more often! I think I’ll leave all of our patriotic type books out on the coffee table for display and perusal until mid July or so.
I won’t take time to review all of them today, but here are a few of our favorites:
1. STAR-SPANGLED BANNER – Our Nation and Its Flag
This is a very nice hardback book put out by National Geographic. Here is an excerpt from the back of the book: “Born in the dawn of a new nation, the American flag embodies the history of the United States. Star-Spangled Banner: Our Nation and Its Flag documents the story of our country’s most enduring symbol with fascinating facts, lively anecdotes, and compelling illustrations. A unique chronicle of war and diplomacy, exploration, and everyday life, this book will touch the hearts and minds of all Americans.”
This is a WONDERFUL hardcover book with lots (249 to be exact) of full cover photos and fairly easy reading text. I think you would enjoy this book if you can get your hands on a copy. They are out of print at B&N, but I did see a few on Amazon which you can find by clicking the title above.
A few things to be aware of. Depending on whether or not you believe Betsy Ross was the designer of our flag you may or may not appreciate a few pages in this book. If you think it’s a myth that she created it, you’ll be fine. If you think she DID create it then you’ll be challenged to explore some facts you may not be aware of. Also, one of the reviews says the author’s style will appeal to conservative readers. I happen to enjoy her style of writing. I particularly like these two quotes by the author, Margaret Sedeen: “Every wave of the flag is a pulse of history” and “into this piece of cloth is woven the story of a nation.”
This is a Welcome Book by Lloyd G. Douglas. You can also find it on Amazon by clicking the title above. I wouldn’t purchase it for $4.95. My copy is from Scholastic and I probably paid $1 or less. It’s a nice book for preschool to kindergarten aged kids which gives a few easily remembered facts geared toward this age group. I don’t mind letting Nathan (and the other kids when they were younger) thumb through this one when I only paid $1 or so for it. I’m pretty picky about books that I spend very much $$ for (LOL) so that’s why I like to have a few of these inexpensive ones sitting around as well.
This is another Welcome Book by Lloyd G. Douglas. I would say the same thing about this that I said about The American Flag book listed above so I’ll spare you any more review of these *very short* books. Each one is a very small 6″x7″ book with only 24 pages each including the Table of Contents, Index, Vocabulary Glossary, and a “find out more info” page. Again, if you can find it for $1 it’s great for little kids.
4. BETSY ROSS – Designer of Our Flag
This book is part of the Childhood of Famous Americans series. In these books, history is “fleshed out” with fictionalized details and conversations have been added to make the stories “come alive.” According to the cover, “every reasonable effort has been made to make the stories consistent with the events, ethics, and character of their subjects.” For the most part, I think this is probably true. However, if you are one that doesn’t necessarily believe that Betsy Ross was the only designer of our flag you’ll want to discuss your viewpoints with your children before, during, or after reading this book. It IS a nice, easy reading book which I’ll plan to have Josh read to himself while I have our patriotic books displayed on our coffee table from now until mid July.
I encourage you to do some research on this issue, if you want more information. I did this SEVERAL years ago when we were studying this time period with Amanda (although she may not even remember reading this book since it’s been SO LONG AGO)! Sadly, I had never even HEARD of Francis Hopkinson nor the flag designer controvery until we studied it here at home awhile ago.
5. GLORY – A Celebration of the American Flag
This one is not a book. It is a 2002 calendar put out by Workman Publishing with all profits (at the time) going to 9/11 victim relief funds. This calendar is a photographic commemoration of an extraordinary spirit of solidarity displayed after the tragedy of 9/11. I LOVE the photographs in this calendar. I’m so glad I decided to put these things out on display on our coffee table this month otherwise this would have continued to sit on our shelf rarely pulled out and looked at. There are different quotes on each page which I have enjoyed reading again this morning as I browsed through the calendar deciding what to write for this entry.
