England Week - Queen Elizabeth

What was so good about Queen Bess? As you’ll learn in Good Queen Bess: The Story of Elizabeth I of England, a lot. As the book jacket states, her “strong will, shrewd diplomacy, religious tolerance, and love for her subjects won the hearts of her people and the admiration of her enemies.”

The wives of Henry VIII, the sister named Mary and the Catholic/Protestant power play can be a little murky to understand but this book proceeds through Elizabeth’s life in an organized fashion and makes all that stuff crystal clear. And the icing on the cake? The illustrations! They’re a treat.

If you have any desire to learn about Queen Elizabeth, this is the book for you.

Ages 9-12
◊◊◊◊◊

Activity: Give this Queen Elizabeth crossword puzzle a try.

BEACH WEEK - Fossil Finder

TITLE: Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon

AUTHOR: Jennine Atkins

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? Mary Anning, paleontologist extraordinaire, before paleontology was cool (or even actually thought of).

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? In Lyme Regis, England in 1810, eleven year old Mary Anning made an amazing discovery!

WHAT HAPPENED? Mary was born to a struggling family. Her father was a cabinetmaker by trade, but collected fossils from the cliffs on the beach to sell to tourists. Mary was his frequent companion in this endeavor. Then when she was eleven he died, leaving the Annings even more destitute. Mary continued hunting for “curiousities” to help provide for her family. Soon after her father’s death she was the first person to ever uncover an ichthyosaur.  She went on to make other important discoveries, most notably the first plesiosaur.

An inspiring tale of an amazing individual. I highly recommend this book.

Ages 9-12
◊◊◊◊◊

Activity: Mary was uncovering fossils from the Jurassic period. Can you match the picture of the Jurassic creature with it’s name?

FIRST LADY WEEK: Martha Washington

TITLE: Martha Washington: America's First Lady

AUTHOR: Jean Brown Wagoner

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Martha Dandridge, who was called Patsy by her family, was the oldest of eight children. She grew up on a Virginia plantation and spent her days sewing, riding, reading and playing with her siblings, cousins and even a pet bear cub. This book portrays a positive relationship between young Martha and all the people in her life, including the house slaves. Her’s was an isolated existence with little travel beyond the borders of the plantation, so the highlight of the year was the arrival of a supply ship that anchored near her home. This was a cause for great celebration as guests came from miles around for feasts, dances, horse races and fox hunts.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? Martha lost two children and her first husband to illness and was managing a plantation alone. She was visiting friends who lived on a river near a ferry crossing. Her host noticed George Washington on the ferry and hurried out to invite him to dinner. Washington was already a French and Indian War hero and was commander in chief of the armies of Virginia.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She was capable at a wide array of skills, from riding a horse to weaving cloth and sewing clothes. She had four children from her first marriage. Of these, two survived into early adulthood and made her a grandmother. She visited George Washington at Valley Forge and aided the sick, the hungry and the needy. After seeing that these men hardly had enough clothes to cover themselves she kept fifteen spinning wheels going day and night at Mount Vernon and pleaded with friends to also make cloth for the soldiers’ clothes.

Ages: 9-12

◊◊◊◊

This was a pleasant way to learn about Martha Washington. I was glad to discover that this book is in a Childhood of Famous Americans series that contains nearly 50 titles. What a great way for children to relate to those who have made history! Other titles in the series include:  Milton Hershey: Young Chocolatier, Albert Einstein: Young Thinker, Crazy Horse: Young War Chief and Paul Revere: Boston Patriot.

Activity: Martha Washington had an unusual childhood pet. Can you match these out-of-the-ordinary pets with one of the following first families?

Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge or Hubert Hoover

A.     Silk Worms
B.     Opposum
C.     Racoon
D.     Mockingbird
E.     Badger
F.     Ram
G.    Turkey

You also might want to check out this interesting resource on presidential pets.

FIRST LADY WEEK - Ladybird Johnson

TITLE: Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America

AUTHOR: Kathi Appelt

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Claudia Alta Taylor whom we know as Lady Bird Johnson, was born in Karnack, in eastern Texas in 1912. Her nanny proclaimed one day, “She’s as purty as a ladybird,” and the name stuck. A ladybird is another name for a ladybug. She had an enchanted, well-to-do though isolated childhood. Her mother died when she was only five. An aunt came to help raise her, and it is she who inspired Lady Bird to appreciate nature's beauty. Lady Bird enrolled in the University of Texas in 1930, at a time when it was unusual for women to attend college, and earned a degree in journalism.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? While she was attending the university in Austin she met Lyndon Baines Johnson who was working as a congressional aid. He proposed on their first date.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She had two daughters, Lynda and Luci. She introduced them to gardening but worried about other children playing in concrete parks and having no connection to growing plants. When her husband became president she poured her energy into the Highway Beautification Act. Highway landscapes changed because of that law. Road signs and depreis were better managed and native wildfloweres were planted. Later, when she was seventy, she helped establish the National Wildflower Research Center.

Illustrations filled with rich and vivid colors compliment the copy. This would make a great gift for the child with an interest in flowers.

Ages 9-12

◊◊◊◊

Activity: Here’s a great mother’s day gift idea. Print out this seed packet template, color it, glue up the sides and fill it with seeds. Your mother will love it!

FIRST LADY WEEK: Eleanor Roosevelt

TITLE: Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery

AUTHOR: Russell Freedman

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the first child born to wealthy socialites in New York in 1884. Her father was President Teddy Roosevelt’s younger brother. Gawky and glum as a child, her mother died from diphtheria when she was only eight. Her dad, an alcoholic, died less than two years later. Eleanor and her younger brother were raised by her maternal grandmother, whose hands were already full with four unruly grown children.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? They first met at a gathering for children from prominent families. Eleanor was fourteen and feeling unattractive, unfashionable and generally miserable when Franklin, her fifth cousin, asked her to dance. Three years later they met again by chance on a train and continued to run into each other at various parties, including the New Year’s Eve soiree of the recently elected Teddy Roosevelt.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Eleanor had a busy life. She raised five children, was a teacher, and a delegate to the United Nations. Unique to her time and position, she earned her own money by writing columns, lecturing and broadcasting, usually topping the president's salary. She gave most of this income to charity. She thrived being among the suffering masses and bringing their plight into the spotlight.

This is a well told account of a very interesting and influential woman.

Awards: Newbery Honor Book

Ages: 9-12

◊◊◊◊

Activity: Here is an Eleanor Roosevelt crossword puzzle.

FIRST LADY WEEK - Dolley Madison

TITLE: Dolly Madison: First Lady

AUTHOR: Cynthia Fitterer Klingel

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Dolley Payne was born in what is now Guilford County, North Carolina in 1768 to Quaker parents. Quakers educated their daughters along with their sons, and Dolley was a bright student. The family eventually gave up the farming life and moved to Philadelphia where Dolley married a Quaker lawyer and had two sons. During the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, her husband and youngest son died.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? Dolley was a looker and possessed an effervescent personality. In other words, she was a bit of a man magnet. James Madison, a congressman at the time, fell for her and proposed. She had misgivings...he was only 5'6" tall, was getting up there at the age of 42, and was Episcopalian. The first First Lady, Martha Washington, talked Mr. Madison up to Dolley because she and George were really rooting for this pairing. Dolley married James Madison in 1794.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: America adored her. She had a knack for entertaining and for soothing tensions between political parties as well as between foreign dignitaries. Not only was she the hostess with the mostest during her husband’s eight year presidencey, but also during the previous eight years for Jefferson, who was a widow when he was elected. During the war of 1812 she gained hero status. The British invaded Washington D. C. while James was away. Dolley had the wherewithal to gather important papers and a large painting of George Washington before fleeing. Soon after the British plundered the presidential residence and set the place on fire.

Ages: 9-12

◊◊◊◊

Activity: Dolley was the only First Lady that was raised as a Quaker. Numerous Quakers from many walks of life have become world-renowned. Can you find the Quaker in these groups?

Actor:  A. Clark Gable  B. John Wayne  C. James Dean   D. Paul Nueman
Suffragist:  A. Elizabeth Cady Stanton  B. Susan B. Anthony  C. Lucy Burns  D. Margaret Mitchell
President:  A. Hubert Hoover  B. Grover Cleveland  C. Warren Harding  D. Richard Nixon
Musician:  A. Bonnie Raitt  B. Taylor Swift  C. Bruce Springsteen  D. Alice Cooper
Scientist:  A. Stephen Hawking  B. Carl Sagan  C. Jacques Cousteau  D. John Bartram
Journalist: A. Edward R. Murrow  B. Ann Coulter  C. Ann Landers  D. Elijah Lovejoy
Author: A. James Michener  B. Stephen King  C. Michael Chrichton  D. John Grisham
Founding Father:  A. Benjamin Franklin  B. Paul Revere  C. Thomas Paine  D. Thomas Jefferson
Religious Leader:  A. Billy Graham B. John Wesley  C. Max Lucado  D. William Penn

   

FIRST LADY WEEK - Abigail Adams

From Martha to Michelle, America has had more than forty fabulous first ladies, as evidenced in Our Country's First Ladies. This National Geographic book is full of interesting details from the lives of Martha Washington on down to Laura Bush (it was published in 2007). The book dedicates a spread to each First Lady in chronological order that includes a full page portrait and a perfect amount of well written copy. Learn about the influence these women had on their husbands, about the different causes they took on as well as lots of other interesting tidbits. For instance, did you know that Lou Hoover was the first woman to get a geology degree from Stanford University or that Elizabeth Monroe played a pivotal role in saving the wife of Marquis de Lafayette from the guillotine? You’ll also discover that Julia Grant once hosted a White House dinner featuring 29 courses of food and that 21 year old Frances Cleveland was the youngest First Lady. This book is a pleasurable read and an appropriate choice for this week’s theme....First Ladies!

Ages 9-12
◊◊◊◊◊

I notice that for the same aged reader, DK published a book in 2008 that includes our newest First Lady, Michelle Obama. It has been my experience that you can always count on these Eye Witness books to be fabulous. This one is titled First Ladies and it includes a clip art CD.

Many of you have gotten to know Abigail Adams through the amazing HBO miniseries, John Adams. Following is an introduction to Abigail for the younger set....

TITLE: Abigail Adams

AUTHOR: Alexander Wallner

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? The daughter of a reverend, Abigail was born in 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts near Boston. She was bright and wanted to attend school, but school was for boys in her mother’s opinion. So she spent a great deal of time in her father’s library reading and listening in on adult talk of current events.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? When she was seventeen, she met the 26 year old lawyer, John Adams, who was a friend to her sister’s fiance. He was very impressed with her knowledge. They married a couple of years later.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She gave birth to six children. Of those, four reached adulthood and of those, one became the sixth president of the United States. She was often responsible for managing the family’s farm and finances while her husband traveled. She was directly effected by the brewing storm between the colonials and Britain. She boycotted goods that carried British taxes by making them herself, sheltered Boston residents who were fleeing the city after the Boston Tea Party and tried to influence her husband’s opinion regarding rights for slaves and women in the new laws he was helping to create. Unfortuanetly one reply he gave was “I cannot but laugh.” Believing strongly in education she sent her daughter to school and taught a black servant, who was not allowed to attend school, how to read and write.

Illustrated in a folk art style, this book is an excellent way to acquaint your child with a strong and bright woman who was present during our country's founding.

Ages: 4-8

◊◊◊◊

Activity: Color Abigail and John Adams

An Interview with Bessie Coleman

Instead of writing a report on Bessie Coleman, Shannon opted to write her own questions and answers for an interview. She had fun playing the part and learned a lot too. And without further ado, here’s Bessie...

My First Little House Books

What do James Herriot's Treasury for Children, Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild! and My First Little House Books have in common? These are the books about which Shannon and I are in complete agreement. When we occasionally purge her bookshelf, neither of us can bear to part with these. They are the hold-overs from her younger years that I can clearly see her, and myself, reading to her children someday.

The James Herriot book is a delightful collection of animal stories. Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild! is a hilarious look at a mother's resolve to maintain patience...until eventually she doesn't. And the My First Little House Books are snippets from Laura Ingalls Wilder's classics. Each book feels like a little jewel. The illustrations are so soft and cozy and inviting that we long to fall into each story...

I think every little one should have these on their bookshelf. There are over a dozen titles in the series, including:

• Christmas in the Big Woods
• County Fair
• Dance at Grandpa's
• The Deer in the Wood
• Going to Town
• Going West
• A Little House Birthday
• A Little Prairie House
• Prairie Day
• Sugar Snow
• Summertime in the Big Woods
• Winter Days in the Big Woods
• Winter on the Farm

Ages 4-8
◊◊◊◊◊

Activity: Can you help Laura pack the covered wagon with the correct belongings? Be careful, some of these items Laura has never even seen.

Remember the Ladies

Betsy Ross, Harriet Tubman and Annie Oakley are among the 100 American women highlighted in Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women. This attractive collection of movers and shakers of the female persuasion also contains unfamiliar names that Shannon and I would like to research further. Women like Sylvia Earle, who walked untethered on the ocean floor, further down than any other human at 1,250 feet! And Sybil Ludington, who at sixteen rode her horse through the night during the Revolutionary War to warn that the British were attacking Connecticut. “I had NO idea that women did that!” was Shannon’s reaction.

We enjoyed reading this, and together discovering just what women are capable of. The illustrations are wonderful. The chronological order is well handled, with each spread dedicated to a designated time period from the New World to Turn of the Millennium. I question some of the author's choices, like Martha Stewart, who, granted, built an empire, yet she excluded Mary Kay Ash, who built an empire that provided so many other women an opportunity to succeed.

Warning: In the sixties area of the book the birth control pill and abortion are brought up. My daughter is ten and at first I was a little uncomfortable discussing these topics with her. But it did lead us to a great mother/daughter talk on pro-life and pro-choice views.

Ages 9-12
◊◊◊◊

Women on the Wing

When I first met my husband he was in the process of getting his private pilot license. So I can appreciate the work that goes into learning to fly. I can also appreciate the feeling of freedom that comes with taking off from the ground in a little plane and climbing up into a big sky full of possibilities. Where do you want to go? It's in the joy of flight that I can relate to two great American aviators. But in their drive and determination to push themselves to their limits they are both way, way out of my league. They are Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman. Both of these pilots of the female persuasion are the subject of lots of books at my local library. From these titles I recommend the following.

Who Was Amelia Earhart? by Kate Boehm Jerome, is a well organized account of Amelia's life. It's a little book that is generously illustrated with friendly pen and ink drawings and just the right amount of text. An occasional page acts as a fact filled sidebar about other events occurring during Amelia's life: The World’s Fair, The Wright Brothers, the Women's Suffrage Movement and The Great Depression. And, as if that isn't enough, the book ends with an information packed timeline. It's a quick but thorough account of Amelia's life, perfect for book reports or for just getting to know Amelia.

Ages 9-12
◊◊◊◊

I was already familiar with Amelia so I really loved getting to know Bessie Coleman in Fly, Bessie, Fly. She is the epitome of what I tell my children, “Don't say you can't, say ‘how can I?’” She was born five years before Amelia into a hard Texas life of Jim Crow and cotton picking and a fatherless home. But she was always determined to be somebody. In her twenties she moved to Chicago and it was there that she decided to become a pilot, only to discover that no one in this country would teach a colored man or woman to fly. Instead of giving up, she found out she could get her license in France and commenced to saving money and learning to speak French. When she returned from France in 1921, the only black woman in the world licensed to fly, she was a star.

This book has a nice pace and crisp, full page, watercolor illustrations. It's a story definitely worth sharing.

Ages 4-8
◊◊◊◊

Activity: Draw your own bi-plane with these step by step directions.

The Lincolns

I really enjoyed reading about Abraham Lincoln's wife and her dearest friend in An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, by the ever so talented Ann Rinaldi. This well written historical fiction will especially appeal to teenage girls as well as adults with an interest in history.

It is organized in a unique way:
1. The day Abraham Lincoln was shot (starting with breakfast)
2. Mary Todd's upbringing in Lexington, Kentucky
3. Elizabeth Keckley's upbringing as a slave
4. The friendship of these two women.

You could certainly say that Mary and Elizabeth (Lizzy) were opposites. Priviledged Mary Todd grew up waited-on by slaves while Lizzy endured the wretched life of a slave. Mary lost her mother early in life and was then subjected to a loathsome step-mother. Lizzy on the other hand was raised in the company of her mother, the plantation's seamstress. And thankfully, her mother taught her how to sew, a skill that eventually earned her freedom and an introduction to the upper-crust of the nation's capitol.

Readers will come away from this story with empathy for those trapped in slavery and a true sense of what Antebellum life was like. A great read.

Ages 12 and up
◊◊◊◊◊

Another Lincoln title caught my eye this week. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary is a thick "scrapbook" containing 156 pages of newspaper clippings, photos, political cartoons and letters from the couples lives all arranged in chronological order. It's chock-full of information making for interesting browsing. Here is one of the many little gems it contains...an account of the first time Abraham met Mary:

Tall and gawky, wearing a swallowtail coat that was too short, shabbily patched trousers, and mismatched socks, Abraham made his way to Mary's side. "Miss Todd," he said, "I want to dance with you in the worst way." And, as Mary remembered it, "he certainly did."

Ages 9 and up
◊◊◊◊

Activity: How well do you know the 16th president? Try this Abraham Lincoln Crossword Puzzle.

Fruit of the Earth

They are of different genders, different continents and different centuries. So what do Johnny Chapman and Wangari Maathai have in common? Trees.

Johnny Chapman was popularly known as Johnny Appleseed and dozens of books have been written about him. Of those my favorite is Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend, mostly because I love the illustrations! They are the folksy and friendly creations of Will Moses who obviously inherited his talent from his famous great grandmother, Grandma Moses.

Johnny Appleseed spent his youth in Pennsylvania then migrated to the wild frontiers of Ohio and Indiana. At the time "a written law said every new homestead must plant fifty apple trees. An orchard showed a settler's intention to stay put and work the land. So Johnny figured, apple trees were just what the frontier needed and he'd supply them." Apples provided many uses: "dried apples, apple butter, applesauce, apple pie, apple cider, apple brandy, applejack, apple vinegar and best of all, apples, just tasted so good"

Johnny was commonly the first person a new settler met. If a family was too poor to buy his trees he gave them apple seedlings anyway. He also gave the shirt off his back and the shoes off his feet to those in need. Johnny Appleseed gained a reputation for being kind to all—people and animals. He was not only enterprising and generous but also quirky, lanky, spiritual, an avid reader and a mesmerizing storyteller. In his lifetime he planted thousands of apple trees. Will Moses' book is a great introduction to this good soul.

Ages 9-12

◊◊◊◊

Nearly a hundred years after Johnny Appleseed died, Wangari Maathai was born to a peasant farmer in the lush central highlands of Kenya. She eventually attended college in America, studying biology. When she returned to Kenya five years later she was aghast to find a nearly treeless landscape. By reading Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai children will learn how an ordinary person can make an extraordinary difference. Wangari inspired women, school children, prisoners and soldiers to plant seedlings. In thirty years thirty million trees were planted in Kenya and the planting continues to this day. The author, Claire A. Nivola, is also the creator of the charming illustrations of this very inspiring book.

Ages 9-12

◊◊◊◊

Activity: Grow and plant your own tree.