Betsy Ross

by Alexandra Wallner

Folk-art style paintings and a simple text mark a retelling of the life story of Betsy Ross, including her work running an upholstery business and, according to legend, her designing of the first American flag at the request of George Washington.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Childrens, American Revolution, American

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Alexandra Wallner was born in Germany. Not able to speak English when she immigrated to the United States, she almost flunked first grade. But with the help of comic books--Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, Katy Keene, Little Lulu--she learned her new language. Words and pictures together lit the spark for her future career.

After graduating from Pratt Institute’s Fine Art Program with an MFA and enjoying a brief stint in magazine design, she started collaborating with her husband John in creating children’s books.

Not limited to a love for children's books, Alex and John have a passion for renovating and working in old houses. In Woodstock, N. Y. they renovated an 1850’s farmhouse. They restored an 1865 townhouse in Philadelphia and remodeled a 1920's Maine island cottage.

During the long Maine winters, Alex started taking notes for a story about Sylvia and Max Saltwater and their encounters with island folk. The notes evolved into PINOCCHIO ISLAND.

They started thinking about warmer places to live when Alex became weary of slipping on ice. Breaking precedence, they moved to a warm climate into a newly built Florida house. Unfortunately soon after, they experienced three hurricanes in six weeks.

Continuing their gypsy ways, they moved to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico where they restored a mid-nineteenth century casa and added two studios in the back of the garden.

They care for an elderly Jack Russell, a family of cats, a rambunctious iguana, and a sprinkling of geckos.

Alex threw out the moving boxes and swears this is her final home.

Reviews

[Fiona Endsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice biography of Elizabeth Griscom Ross for young children.
Though there are many conflicting stories about the life of Betsy Ross, and no absolute proof that she sewed the first American flag, this book favored the accounts of her life in the book The Truth About the Betsy Ross Story by Robert Morris. From her Quaker roots to her life long profession as an upholsterer, through three marrriages, many children and widowhood, she is presented as a smart, hardworking, much loved mother, business women, and patriot.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed going through our patriotic books and reading them before the 4th of July to stir up some patriotism in our hearts. ...krb 7/2/20

[Bookbag_Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Bold Stripes - Bright Stars - Brave Hearts

-Stars & Stripes Forever

-I Thank God For My Life, The Stars & Stripes -May Freedom Forever Fly

When displayed over a street, the flag should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street, or to the east in a north and south street.

The American flag should be at the center and the highest point when displayed with a group of state flags.

Betsy was buried on Arch Street in the garden of the house she was ran as an upholstery shop. The flag of the United States flies twenty four hours a day over her grave.

TRAVELED TO // Pennsylvania
MET ALONG THE WAY // Betsy Griscom Ross "The Little Rebel", John Ross, George Washington, Robert Morris, Colonel George Ross, Joseph Ashburn, John Claypoole

[Kaitlin Schraeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about Betsy Ross' life. It started out describing Betsy’s childhood. She started out very young with the love of sewing. It then went on to her being high school age when she went to work and found her husband. Together they started an upholstery shop on Arch Street. Betsy’s husband died in war and left Betsy to run the shop herself. Betsy was so known for her sewing that when George Washington wanted a flag for the Americas he asked Betsy to sew it. Betsy then sewed the first American flag and her business became a lot bigger. She then married Joseph Ashburn. The ending to the book talks about how Betsy taught her daughters, grandchildren, and nieces to sew so they could all keep the business running after her.
I liked this book because it would be a good book to read to kids to learn about Betsy Ross. It has lots of information as well as great illustrations to go along with it. It isn't too log of a book and is a nice quick read to teach her whole life. I also like this book because in the back on the last page is a step by step instruction on how to make a 5-point star. You could use this as an activity for students or children to do after reading the book.

[Rosalie Beyer-Krohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learn about Betsy Ross’s life as a Quaker and her contributions to American history during the Revolutionary war in this charming biography. Her diligent and rebellious nature sparked the creation of the first American flag, demonstrating how even a domestic task such as sewing accomplished great things for our country.

Genre: Biography - This book provides a factual account of Betsy Ross's life.

Reading Level - P

Writing Mentor Trait: Conventions - This book is a fantastic example of all sorts of conventions. Students could use it as a mentor text to help them understand which words to capitalize, when/where to use each type of punctuation, single and plural possessives, how to write dates, and even how to write a paragraph.

Other Classroom Uses: This book would be a great addition to a lesson about the declaration of independence, women in history, or American history.

[Taylor Galloway · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts out by describing Elizabeth Griscom, also known as Betsy Ross' life, before she was known as the maker of the first American flag. The author takes readers through Betsy's family. One way the author does this is my portraying Betsy along with her many siblings doing chores. We are introduced to key parts of Betsy's life such as that she grew up Quaker, which is a religion that believes in a simple way of living and that she came from a very large family of seventeen children. Throughout her life Betsy had enjoyed sewing and even made a living out of it. Betsy Ross was asked by General George Washington to make the Colonials a flag in order for them to have a symbol of independence, today we recognize this as the American flag. This is a great book to have inside a classroom library since it introduces students to important history terms such as Quakers, Colonials, Betsy Ross, George Washington, and Declaration of Independence. There are many more important terms and historical dates that are found throughout the book that can be tied into lessons.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to Betsy Ross. It portrays her as a somewhat sassy lady who had strong ideas and was true to herself. It isn't the most interesting book, but kids should be able to sit through it.

[Jessica Lewers]

This would be a great biography with bright pictures for students. It talks all about Betsy Ross, the woman who made the first American flag.
Age level: 4-8
Lexile level: 880L

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about Betsy Ross! She may not have even sown the first flag!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good account of Betsy Ross’ life. The book discusses her Quaker faith, the first American flag, a bit of the revolutionary war, along with many details about her life.

[Kimberly Idso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography tells the story of the famous Betsy Ross. Betsy was born in Philadelphia in 1752 to a very large Quaker family. As she grew up she learned to sew. She competed in embroidery competitions, worked in a sewing shop and eventually was asked by George Washington to sew the first American Flag. During the American revolution, Betsy's first husband John died. Shortly after, she married two other men, both of which died before her. She did however, have children and loved to pass her stories down to them. Her most famous story is the story of her making the first American Flag.

This book was an excellent biography. It is told in story format but is still very factual. It was actually one of the more in depth biographies for children that I found on Betsy. Although there are many conflicting stories and opinions regarding certain events in Betsy's life the author favors those events, but does make note that we do not know for certain if these events really occurred. The pictures in this book were very nicely done. They help enhance the book and make it more appealing to younger children who may not like non fiction books. Overall I thought it was a great book. It was fun, colorful and most importantly a true story.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was stressful for my daughter when we read it because her husband died. Just read for the second time in conjunction with art lesson about stars. I like the instructions at the back of the book for folding/cutting a 5-pointed star.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Betsy Ross. She is the lady who sewed together our country's flag. I recommend this book for 2nd-4th grade.

[Catherine Woodman]

Children's eye view of the flag

[Jolyn F · Rating 4 out of 5]

April book report
Betsy Ross
Alexandra Wallner

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a Quaker in a family of 17, Elizabeth Griscom had a very interesting life that was full of surprises. The Griscom family had so many family members, that everyone had a chore to do every day. Elizabeth, or Betsy, helped by sewing the white caps that Quaker girls wore every day. This is where her sewing career started. The school Betsy went to required four hours of an activity for homework, so Betsy used this time to become a professional in sewing. In Betsy's lifetime, she had 3 husbands, two of which died in war while the other died of old age. After her second husband died in the war, the government came to Betsy's house and asked her to make the American flag. After the flag was finished on June 14, 1777, Betsy became well known for making flags, quilts, clothing, etc. Betsy died in 1836 of old age, but her stories will be alive forever.

The main idea of this book is Betsy Ross and her crazy life. This is because the entire book is explaining her whole life and what happened in it. A lesson that could be learned from this book, is that life may have its ups and downs, but just keep going. All three of Betsy's husbands died, but she never stopped doing what she loved. Another lesson in this book is to always do what you love doing. Betsy loved sewing, and later in her life she got a good reward: she got to create the American flag! I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys short, nonfiction stories.

[Taylor Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a biography on Besty Ross' life. She was born to a family of seventeen and loved to sew and make quilts. Her parents eventually let her work for an upholsterer where she met her first husband. After her husbands death from the war, George Washington wanted the Colonials to have a flag to show their independence from New England. Colonel Ross suggested that Betsy sew the flag. She tweeked the design and came up with the thirteen starts shaped in a circle with the red and white stripes. After this, she became a well known upholsterer. The story followed her husbands and children and her retirement at age seventy-five.

I thought this book was very interesting. It is factual and full of information about her life. There is also several facts that I never knew about Betsy Ross.

I would have my students compare and contrast the new flag and the old flag (Betsy Ross' design). We would do a whole group practice on this book to introduce compare and contrast before they did independent compare and contrast papers. I would have chart paper in the front of the room and we would discuss in whole group what is the same about the two flags and what is different about the two.