June 20 – American Eagle Day

About the Holiday

The first American Eagle Day was proclaimed by President Bill Clinton and Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist in 1995 to commemorate and bring awareness to this most enduring American symbol. Chosen as the United States’ National Emblem by our Founding Fathers on June 20, 1782, the Bald Eagle represents the best of America: freedom, courage, strength, spirit, and excellence. Once threatened with extinction—only 400 nesting pairs existed in the early 1960s—the American Eagle has made a comeback, with 15,000 nesting pairs living in the lower 48 states. Besides celebrating what the American Eagle symbolizes, today’s holiday is used to raise awareness of conservation efforts for this most majestic bird.

Is a Bald Eagle Really Bald?

Written by Martha E. H. Rustad | Illustrated by Holli Conger

“Our class is having a visitor today,” Ms. Patel tells her class. “Guess who it is,” she urges after giving the kids a hint that the visitor eats fish. Anabelle thinks it might be her dad, but Ms. Patel adds that the visitor has a sharp beak and feathers. Joshua guesses that it’s a duck. The kids are getting closer, and with one more hint—Ms. Patel holds up a one-dollar bill—Rose correctly shouts, “‘a bald eagle!’”

Natalie wants to know why there’s a bald eagle on the dollar, and Ms. Patel tells her that the eagle is a symbol of our country. When John asks what a symbol is, she compares the eagle to the school’s bear mascot and goes on to say that the eagle can also be found on the Great Seal. Luke is momentarily excited about the prospect of a seal also visiting the class, but Ms. Patel shows the class that the Great Seal is actually an image. This image demonstrates that something is officially American and appears on stamps, government buildings, important papers, and even the buttons on military uniforms.

The class takes a closer look at the Great Seal, with its eagle in the center. In one foot the eagle is holding a plant, says Karen. Right, Ms. Patel says. “‘It’s an olive branch. It stands for peace.’” Noah notices that in the other foot the eagle carries arrows. The arrows represent strength, Ms. Patel explains. The banner in the eagle’s beak reads E. Pluribus Unum, which is Latin for “one from many” and describes how the single country of America is made of many states. The thirteen stars above the eagle’s head reminds us of the 13 original colonies and states.

Dr. Kelly from the raptor center soon arrives with a bald eagle named Sam. Dr. Kelly puts on a protective glove and carefully takes Sam out of his carrier. Sam is huge! Kyra exclaims, and Jackson wants to know why he’s called “bald.” Dr. Kelly explains that the word bald actually comes from piebald, which means “‘having white marks.’” The class learns many facts about bald eagles, including that they have keen eyesight, can see their prey from high overhead, and can swallow a meal in mid-air.

Then the class talks about how the bald eagle became America’s mascot. Lily raises her hand and suggests it’s because eagles fly free and Americans are free. “‘Good answer,’” Ms. Patel says. She adds that bald eagles are native to North America, and shows the class a map of their summer and winter habitats.

All too soon class is over and it’s time for lunch. “Fish is on today’s menu,” Ms. Patel tells the kids, and they feel just like bald eagles. The children say “thank you” and “goodbye” to Dr. Kelly and Sam, and after lunch they draw their own mascots. You can do that too with the activity at the back of the book!

Scattered throughout the pages, sidebars expand on the facts delivered in the story. Readers learn that the Great Seal has been used since 1782, what raptors and raptor centers are, the weight and wingspan of an adult bald eagle, incredible statistics on eagle’s nests, and about conservation efforts to protect bald eagles.

A Draw-Your-Own Mascot activity follows the text along with a glossary and resources for further study, including free downloadable educational resources.

In her Our American Symbols books Martha E. H. Rustad does a wonderful job of explaining the importance of America’s emblems to children. Through classroom discussions between a teacher and her students, Is a Bald Eagle Really Bald? answers readers’ questions about how and why the bald eagle became a United States symbol. The natural give-and-take will resonated with kids, and Rustad’s clear and kid-friendly definitions of concepts will make an impact. The inclusion of a representative from a raptor center will also feel familiar to children experienced with these types of classroom visitors as well as similar field trips. Sidebars provide more scientific and historical facts.

Holli Conger’s bright, bold illustrations distinctly depict the concepts in the text through large, colorful, and easily understood images. A bulletin board holds pictures of a bald eagle and the American flag, while the teacher holds up a school mascot t-shirt to help relay the idea of a symbol; the Great Seal is shown with well-defined details as the teacher uses a pointer to indicate its various parts; and pages portraying the visit by the raptor center representative give kids a good idea of the size and grandeur of the bald eagle. The children portrayed in the classroom are enthusiastic and welcoming, and readers will feel right at home in their midst.

Ages 5 – 9

Millbrook Press, 2014 | ISBN 978-1467744669

American Eagle Day Activity

American Eagle and Flag Coloring Page

The majestic American Bald Eagle is a perfect symbol to represent the courage, freedom, and spirit of the USA. Here’s a printable American Eagle and Flag Coloring Page for you to enjoy!

June 14 – Flag Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

Flag Day commemorates the day in 1777 when the “Stars and Stripes” designed by Besty Ross was adopted as the official flag of the United States by the Second Continental Congress. Through early efforts by BJ Cigrand, a school teacher in Fredonia, Wisconsin, in 1885 and George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City in 1889, observances celebrating the flag’s birthday were initiated. Three decades of remembrances followed, and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson officially established the holiday. It wasn’t until President Harry S Truman signed an Act of Congress on August 3, 1949 that June 14 was designated National Flag Day. Today, people are encouraged to display the American flag. Special events and ceremonies also take place on this day.

Why Are There Stripes on the American Flag?

Written by Martha E. H. Rustad | Illustrated by Kyle Poling

The school bell rings and the kids in Mr. Gomez’s class get ready to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Charles raises his hand with a question. Suddenly all the kids have questions about the flag and the words of the Pledge they say each morning. Mr. Gomez is enthusiastic about answering the kids, and the class starts a discussion that includes a bit about the Revolutionary War and how the original 13 colonies became the first states. The new government, Mr. Gomez says, wanted a symbol for the country.

In 1777, Mr. Gomez continues, the American leaders decided to use the colors red, white, and blue. The red stands for courage, the white for goodness, and the blue for fairness. The Flag Act of 1777 decreed that the flag have 13 stripes, alternating red and white, and 13 white stars on a blue field. Stars were chosen to represent the states because the founders believed America was “like a new group of stars shining in the night sky.” Mr. Gomez shows his class pictures of how the flag changed over the years as states were added to the union.

Next, the kids want to understand the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance better. Line by line, Mr. Gomez defines the more difficult words. Allegiance he explains means loyalty or friendship and that in the first line of the pledge we are promising to be loyal to and respect the flag. Respect is shown when we stand and place a hand over our heart while reciting the pledge, obey the rules of raising and lowering the flag, and other requirements. Mr. Gomez then explains what a Republic is and the idea that America is indivisible in that her people live and work as a team, staying together even when we disagree. The concepts of liberty and justice are also defined.

The class is excited with their new knowledge and before heading out for recess, they say the Pledge of Allegiance together.

A Make Your Own Flag activity follows the text along with a glossary of words used in the book and resources for further study.

Martha E. H. Rustad has written a primer about the American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance that will engage kids and teach them about these important patriotic concepts. Words such as symbol, justice, liberty, and more are described through the give and take between Mr. Gomez and his students, using familiar examples from the playground and classroom. Each page also includes facts about the US flag, the Flag Act, the design of early flags, flag etiquette, and more.

Kyle Poling’s friendly and colorful illustrations depict a diverse class where the concepts being discussed are clearly visible. Young readers will feel right at home in Poling’s classroom environment and be excited to learn about the origins of our most familiar symbol.

Ages 5 – 8

Millbrook Press, 2014 | ISBN 978-1467744652

Flag Day Activity

Star-Shaped Word Search

The stars on the American flag represent the country’s 50 states. In this printable Star-Shaped Word Search you’ll find words about the origins of the US flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.

June 2 – Leave the Office Earlier Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

The brain child of Laura Stack, a specialist in employee motivation, Leave the Office Earlier Day urges a look at how employees and employers use the working hours of the day to best advantage. Today’s holiday motivates employees to finish their tasks before schedule by making a conscious effort to increase efficiency and productivity. Greater cooperation between workers and their bosses can lead to less downtime and more success. To celebrate today’s holiday, employees can ask their bosses if they can leave the office once their work is truly and well finished. Employers may want to allow their workers to leave as soon as they have completed all their tasks. Both sides may find this tactic improves productivity and creates a more positive work environment.

The Secret Subway

Written by Shana Corey | Illustrated by Red Nose Studio (Chris Sickels)

In the 1860s the streets of New York were…well, not to put too fine a point on it…disgusting. Cobblestone and filled with trash, waste, horse manure, dust, dirt, and throngs of people, the roads made for rough travel. Many people had ideas about what could be done to make the streets safer and cleaner. Some thought a moving sidewalk would work, others talked about double-decker roads or an elevated train system. But although there was a lot of talk, nothing ever got done.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-secret-subway-city

Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

Alfred Ely Beach, however, peered down from his high office room and studied the street below him. Alfred Beach was a thinker, a publisher, and an inventor. He put his clever mind to work and came up with a solution. He envisioned a train powered by an enormous fan that would travel underground. “People would get where they needed to go as if by magic!” he thought. He couldn’t wait to start building. There was just one problem—he didn’t own the streets. And getting permission to dig them up would be hard. “So Beach hatched a sneaky plan. He would propose building an underground tube to carry mail instead.” As he had imagined, no one objected to this project when he proposed it—not even Boss Tweed, who unofficially ran the city.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-secret-subway-designing

Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

Given the okay, Beach rented the basement of Devlin’s Clothing Store. Every day he sent in workers to dig and every night wagons took away the debris. For 58 days and nights Beach’s men tunneled under the city, moving forward 8 feet each day. At last the tunnel was finished. It was 8 feet across and 294 feet long—large enough to hold a train full of people.

Beach then decorated the basement to be a beautiful, welcoming waiting room. Gaslight lamps and paintings dotted the walls, flowers added color, and a grandfather clock rang out the time. There was even a fountain with goldfish, a man playing a grand piano, and a delicious lunch. When everything was ready, Beach invited reporters, government officials, and distinguished citizens to join him on February 26, 1876 at the “Beach Pneumatic Transit Company.”

Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

That first day Alfred Beach’s guests only admired the train, but they gave it glowing praise. Soon Beach opened his train to the public. With a WHOOSH of a gigantic fan, the train zipped down the track and then back again. “Beach’s train was a SENSATION! All winter while wagons slipped and slid on the slushy streets above, people poured into Devlin’s for the twenty-five-cent ride.”

While riders loved it, some people objected. Shop keepers didn’t want potential buyers underground. Property owners were afraid the digging would hurt their buildings, and some felt Beach wanted too much power. Even Boss Tweed no longer supported it since some of his friends had their own ideas on building a subway. When the governor of New York refused to let Beach expand his train, the project came to a halt.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-secret-subway-invites-riders

Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

The idea didn’t die, however, and “many years later drilling could be heard once again under the streets of New York City” as a train system powered with electricity was being built. Diggers discovered many unusual things buried under the city. Perhaps the most surprising was a brick wall behind which stood a little railroad car rusting in its tracks, a memorial to innovation and the future.

Alfred Ely Beach was one clever man, and Shana Corey tells his story with historical perspective, wit, and suspense. Corey’s language crackles with evocative alliteration, stealth, and action. Kids will be excited to learn of the intrigue and imagination that led to this remarkable snippet of America’s history.

Fans of Claymation will love Chris Sickels’ multimedia artwork that combines sculpted characters, specially built props, photographs, and illustration. Sickels’ characters are nothing short of astounding. Their period clothing, hairstyles, and expressive faces lend an engaging and realistic dimension to the vintage scenes. Sickels cleverly depicts early New York City and people’s alternative ideas to the traffic problem. His use of color and lighting sets the perfect tone for this highly entertaining and educational picture book. Kids will want to linger over each page to catch all the details of The Secret Subway.

Ages 4 – 10

Schwartz & Wade, Random House Kids, 2016 | ISBN 978-0375870712

Leave the Office Early Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-secret-subway-chris-sickels-craft

Chris Sickels’ Secret Subway

Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studio invites you to build your own Secret Subway with this printable play set, complete with Alfred Ely Beach and a passenger! Click here to download your printable Secret Subway Activity!

Build a Super Subway Car

Every day, millions of people all over the world travel to work, school, and other activities by subway. Here’s an easy and fun way to build your own subway train from recycled materials. You can make just one car or make a few and connect them to create a long train worthy of any big city!

Supplies

Printable Subway Car Template
Medium or long toothpaste box
Silver paint
Glue
Paintbrush
Scissors

Directions

Paint the toothpaste box with the silver paint, let dry
Cut out the windows, doors, and stripe templates
Trim the stripes to fit your box
To make the little sign near the door, trim a small aquare from one of the stripes
Glue the templates to the box

Picture Book Review

June 1 – Global Running Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

On your mark, get set, run! More than 2 million people in 160 countries have pledged to run on today’s holiday. Global Running Day is the evolution of National Running Day in the United States, which was started in 2009 by leading running organizations and races throughout the nation. It has been held annually on the first Wednesday of June ever since. This year will mark the first-ever Million Kid Run that aims to have a million kids around the world pledge to run with the hope that they will discover the joys of running and will be inspired to continue the sport through life. Participating is as easy as running in your neighborhood, gathering with friends to run, or even playing tag with your kids.

The Wildest Race Ever: The Story of the 1904 Olympic Marathon

By Meghan McCarthy

On August 30, 1904 the first United States Olympic Marathon took place at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. Torrential rainstorms in the days before the race had washed away the original route, so a new, more difficult route was mapped out. Some of the 32 racers were:

Fred Lorz, a Boston bricklayer; John Lorden, the winner of the 1903 Boston Marathon; Sam Mellor from New York and the winner of two major marathons; Felix Carvajal, a mailman from Cuba; Arthur Newton; Albert Corey; Len Tau, a long-distance running messenger from South Africa; William Garcia, the “greatest long-distance runner on the Pacific Coast”; and Thomas Hicks, who had only trained on flat terrain and was not ready for hilly St. Louis. There were also racers from countries all over the world.

At the starting line the racers waited in 90-degree heat for the signal. When the pistol shot rang out, they took off. The early leader was Fred Lorz. As the racers took to the hills outside the stadium so did cars full of reporters, judges, and doctors. Some spectators rode along side them on bicycles. All these vehicles stirred up so much dust that the runners choked on it.

At mile two, Sam Mellor and Fred Lorz were in the lead with Thomas Hicks only a little behind, but at mile 9 Lorz suffered terrible cramps and was driven away in a car. Now Albert Corey and William Garcia were neck and neck, and Hicks was catching up!

And what about Felix Carvajal? He ran and ran—but he also stopped and stopped. He loved talking to the spectators that cheered him on. It gave him an opportunity to practice his English! Arthur Newton, Sam Mellor, and Thomas Hicks exchanged the lead several times. No one knew who would win!

Where was Len Tau? Unfortunately, an angry dog chased him until he was a mile off course. Felix Carvajal also got distracted—not by a dog, but by an apple orchard! He settled down under a tree to satisfy his hunger. Soon, Mellor began suffering cramps and was suddenly out of the race.

Hicks suffering unbearable thirst in the staggering heat, began begging his trainers for water. They refused, instead giving him a concoction of strychnine and egg white. Another name for strychnine is rat poison! What would happen to Hicks after he drank it?Meanwhile who should appear out of the dust? Fred Lorz! He ran through the tape at the finish line and was declared the winner! Cheers erupted from the crowd. But wait! Someone said that Lorz had cheated. The cheers turned to boos, and even though Lorz said it was all a joke, the race committee banned Lorz from racing for life.

Hicks, somehow, kept running, buoyed by the cheering crowds. His trainers gave him more of the “health” drink, which made Hicks sluggish and confused. Nevertheless, he struggled on. When he came to the top of the last hill, seeing and hearing the crowds energized him. He pushed himself to run harder and harder until he broke through the tape. He collapsed on the ground just as he was declared the winner. He was rushed to the hospital, but was well enough to accept his award an hour later.

What happened to the other runners? All, except William Garcia who was overtaken by the clouds of dust, crossed the finish line at various times and with unique comments on their performance. These racers may have been very different, but they all had one thing in common. Each one accomplished an astounding feat: They competed side by side in the “killer marathon” of 1904 while upholding the Olympic spirit.

Meghan McCarthy with wit and suspense brings the story of the 1904 marathon to life for kids used to paved, well-marked routes, energizing sports drinks, supportive running shoes, and comfortable running clothes. Perhaps the only similarities to today’s races and yesteryear’s are the start and finish line and the cheering crowds! McCarthy’s inclusion of the humorous and the near-disastrous will keep readers’ hearts racing until the very end, when the topsy-turvy finish is revealed!

McCarthy illustrates The Wildest Race Ever with verve and comic flourishes that well-represent this extraordinary Olympics event. Kids will giggle and gasp to see what happens to the racers – and even a couple of spectators – during the race.

The Wildest Race Ever is a must-read for sports and history enthusiasts alike!

Ages 4 – 9

Simon & Schuster, 2016 | ISBN 978-1481406390

Global Running Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-shoe-lace-craft

Sassy Shoe Laces

Did you know that having cool shoelaces makes you run faster? Well…that might not be exactly true, but you will definitely look good no matter what you’re doing if you make some unique laces for your shoes.

Supplies

Shoelaces in any color
Fabric paint or markers

Directions

With the fabric paint or markers make dots, stripes, or any designs you like. You can even paint fish or flowers!
Enjoy them on your run!

May 30 – Memorial Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day to commemorate the laying of wreaths and flowers on soldiers’ gravesites, was first celebrated on May 30, 1868. In 1971 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and established the last Monday in May as Memorial Day. The day is honored with parades and special commemorative events. At Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC, the President or Vice President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans

Written by Barbara Elizabeth Walsh | Illustrated by Layne Johnson

In April of 1917 President Woodrow Wilson declared that America was going to war in Europe. As a teacher and foster mother to girls at the University of Georgia’s Normal School, Moina Belle Michael wanted to do something to honor the boys going off to fight—boys who were the brothers, sweethearts, even fathers of her students. Moina did what the other women were doing to help—knitting socks and sweaters and rolling bandages—but she wanted to do more. She went to the soldiers’ camps nearby to deliver books, magazines, and candy, and she waved goodbye to them at the train station. But she still wanted to do more.