As part of my job,
I teach about the American Revolution,
and Thomas Jefferson is in our presentation.
He has a speech where he lists his accomplishments,
and I’ve always thought he was a pretty cool guy.
When I was a kid, I remember doing a book about the Louisiana Purchase for a project.
For some reason I was really obsessed with that topic.
Maybe it was the French connection?
(I started learning French in 5th grade and have loved it ever since)
or maybe it was just so AMAZING that we got THAT MUCH LAND!
Anyway,
I’m a HUGE Maira Kalman fan too,
so I am totally the target audience for this book.
Maybe you are too?
Title: Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Everything
Published by: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014
Written by: Maira Kalman
Illustrated by: Maira Kalman
Word Count: 1420
Pages: 40
In one word: Astounding!
In one sentence: Thomas Jefferson did so much for our country, including many eccentric things you may not know about, so read this book to find out!
Favorite pages:
Likes:
I loved the conversational style of this book. It sounds like Maira is just having a conversation with you about Thomas Jefferson the whole time. It’s fun!
The colors in the illustrations are so vibrant. Since most portraits we see of him and people of that time are usually black and white, that was awesome!
There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to Thomas Jefferson, but Maira really makes sure to pull out fun and true things that kids will relate to. I loved learning about his bed, some of his inventions, and the story of how he helped form the Library of Congress!
GREAT section in the back with a paragraph about major things that he did in his life.
AWESOME job at not shying away from the fact that he owned slaves. Maira talks about it in a way that will really make kids think.
I also loved how she tied in other important people of his time.
Learns:
If you put your own spin on it, no nonfiction topic is out of your grasp, not even one that has been done before!
Look for the fun, the things that kids will latch on to, when writing nonfiction!
This one was a GREAT find at the library!
How’s everyone’s week going?
Things are a bit crazy over here!
I’m gearing up for NaNoWriMo,
packaging up prizes to send out to the people who sponsored me for Night of Writing Dangerously,
diving into character development for a promising new picture book manuscript,
and I JUST got my edit letter today for the book I sold.
And it’s only Monday 🙂
But it’s ok, I’ve got plenty of time,
and having a lot of ideas to work on is a good problem to have.
So, yeah?
What did you read today?
Ok, cya tomorrow!
KE
