S Is For Sooner: An Oklahoma Alphabet Series

Discover America State By State

by Devin Scillian, Kandy Radzinski (Illustrator)

The wide-open spaces of Oklahoma are brought alive for readers with charming rhymes about rodeos, land runs, and yes, even the musical "Oklahoma!" The people, places, and landmarks of the Sooner state are thoroughly explored through the popular two-tiered format for the "Discover America State by State" series, with simple rhymes for younger children and expository text for older children.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Young Adult

40 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2003

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun introduction to the history, culture and miscellany of our great state of Oklahoma. It is part of a series of state books written for children but as an adult I enjoyed it and brushed up on some state facts as well. On the positive side, S Is For Sooner is beautifully illustrated, informative with cute, clever rhymes.

My reservations about the book are its omissions. First, its failure to even mention the marvelous author, Angie Debo, honored in our state capital and known worldwide for her critically-acclaimed books on native peoples such as A History of the Indians of the United States, And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes and Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place, just to name a few. I consider this a grave error and take a full star off for this. Mostly, I am just confused as to why she was completely omitted when she brings honor to our state. I cannot help wondering if her work is now not acceptable for some obscure reason... I hope not!

Secondly, but no less critical, was the role played by the monks who built St. Gregory’s and other Christian denominational groups who were instrumental in settling areas throughout the state. Unfortunately, the failure to mention anything to do with Christianity has become so common these days that we no longer even expect to read about it in a secular book. This is a shame because it ignores a significant, and in this case, powerful force for good in the development of our state.

It could, of course, be said that everything about a state cannot be mentioned in one book and that is true, but there were a number of things repeated in the book, so there was room.

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful children's book about the state of Oklahoma. A lot of good information for both children and adults. It touches on not only the great athletes and astronauts who came from Oklahoma but the sad times of the Indians, the Oklahoma bombing and other sad things. A well written book.

[Danna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great alphabet book with tons of information for either adults or students. My third graders loved the book and had a great time adding more Oklahoma words to the alphabet. The illustrations are lovely as well.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for me, a new resident. I learned some of this stuff before the move, but enjoyed learning more details in this book. Now, OK's history is problematic. We're a very 'red' state despite having a lot of African-Americans, Native people, and other non-white communities. But this book did honor representatives of almost all groups of people that have a significant presence here.

[Phyllis Billingsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very educational and good for teaching Oklahoma history

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute picture book about the great state of Oklahoma in rhyme. There are even some questions at the end of the book! A great way to introduce young ones to Oklahoma’s treasures.

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

tornadoes ... lots of them ... that is what OK is known for ... great illustrations. lots to see ... the BIG BLUE WHALE ... from Route 66. history. culture. great folks. hope 2 go again really soon.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

BOOMER SOONER

[Ethan Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overall, general information about Oklahoma. Great for the start of a unit study and gives you a jumping off point to plan a GREAT unit study about OK.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a picture book that I could see giving to a kid to teach them more about Oklahoma.

[Joanne G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read the Kansas version and was impressed enough to look for more in this alphabet series. The Oklahoma entry follows the pattern of the Kansas book of having the ability to grow up with a child: for babies old enough to sit just long enough to look at a few pictures illustrating some letters, toddlers who will like the small poem that accompanies each letter of the alphabet, young readers who can appreciate the few paragraphs of history and information on each page that tell interesting facts about Oklahoma, and adults who will appreciate a children's book that isn't overly simple.

[Heather Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books would be great for older kids, like 5th grade. There is a lot of text and the pictures are realistic, so this book wouldn't really grab the attention of a younger audience. This would be great for a history lesson.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

pictures, history, facts, information and ideals about oklahoma

[Aubrey]

Good for ELL