Birth of the Star-Spangled Banner: A Fly on the Wall History

by Thomas Kingsley Troupe, Jomike Tejido (Illustrator)

With bombs bursting overhead, a tattered flag flying ... Joined by two cartoon flies and their factual narrative infused with kid-friendly fun, readers go above deck with Francis Scott Key and witness the birth of the U.S. national anthem during the War of 1812.

32 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2018

Reviews

[Casey Godinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Godinez’s book Review > Birth of the Star-Spangled Banner by Thomas Kingsley Troupe is a well depicted story of how Francis Scott Key’s poem Star Spangled Banner came about. Troupe used two very cute flies as his story tellers which I think is great! Kids will love this historical, factual story being told by brightly colored cute flies. Troupe uses an informal style with very simple sentence structure that will work great for young readers who are ready for more complex sentences. This book is full of factual information wrapped into a great point of view approach. I would recommend this book especially to teachers talking about poetry, history or music.

[EmberJenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The "flies" in the story are gimmicky, there isn't enough background information about the War of 1812 or Francis Scott Key for kids to really know what was going on and why. I also thought the writing was uninspiring - same with the illustrations except for the ones depicting the bombardment of the fort (which were pretty great). Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner (Step into Reading) is a much better choice for this age group imo. It gives a much better picture of what was going on and the "why" behind it all, including who Franics Scott Key was and why he was involved, etc.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fun, cute, and short -- not usually qualities I would look for in a History book. I am, however, not a member of the target audience. The target audience will find this book to be just perfect.

[Chappyfamily · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those kid books that even adults learn from. I want to get the whole series for my library.