The First Independence Day Celebration; Our American Story

by Kathy Allen, Cynthia Martin (Illustrator)

In the United States, the Fourth of July means picnics, parades, and fireworks. But it wasn't always so. The First Independence Day happened during a time of war. Here's the story.

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Natalia]

Fourth of July is a holiday celebrated across United States where families and friends go to picnics, parades and watch fireworks. However before the celebrations ever existed United States colonies had to fight for their freedom. In “The First Independence Day Celebration” book by Kathy Allen we get the American colonies story of gaining independence from Great Britain. This book is an information text. The people introduced in this story are colonist and colonial leaders, for example, Thomas Jefferson. The story is written from a third person point of view. The setting of this book is taking place in 1776 in Pennsylvania and it goes on to July 4th, 1777 in Philadelphia. The story begins with Thomas Jefferson writing The Declaration of Independence to tell Great Britain they wanted their own free country. The news of breaking away from the Britain made all the colonists gather and celebrate and they were ready to fight. The shouts, bell rings, and the parades started over the summer and the war began. Many men died fighting for freedom. However, when Britain gave in America and their 13 colonies every 4th of July would celebrate their independence.
I really recommend this book for children to learn history of their country and to have some fun with it. I believe this is a good book because in such a short story children would learn about a big part of an American history. This book is recommended for kindergarten to 2nd grade, therefore with short text that gets straight to the point and with nice “story like” illustrations children would have a better insight and understanding on why do we celebrate Forth of July and how it all started. This book should definitely use this book as maybe an introduction to give main facts to the students about the first Independence Day. The Independence Day itself plays a big part of American history, therefore when teacher do discuss it, this book can give the students basic understanding. However, this book can also be used as a way to end the topic, after learning all the facts the students can now read a story about it. It will not only demonstrate the meaning to children that are born in United States, but as well as those who came from foreign countries to understand American history. This book can be a helpful tool to help kids better understand the history behind all of the fun of how to celebrate Forth of July and as teachers it is our role to introduce the students to the history and how it made it to our present times.

[Kathleen]

The main idea of this book is to inform readers how Independence day came into existence. The main characters are the colonial leaders (ex. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams.) This book is a nonfictional book with many facts from the past that is essential to society today. As a literacy teacher, I would use this book to teach students how to write in past tense (ex. They were ruled by King George III and the British government. But the Colonists believed they were being treated unfairly. The Colonist cheered.) The students might interact with this story by sharing their experience from Independence day and contrasting it to the ones told in the story (ex. students watch fireworks vs people taking care of the sick and wounded.)The author did a good job showing how Independence day was celebrated back then and today (ex. Women and children made bullets for the soldiers vs Today, the Fourth of July is a day for family gatherings.)Tom Sperling, the American illustrator, did a good job showing how different peopled dressed back then. In the last page, the people seem to be dressed more modern. This book relates to my topic because it is one way a culture celebrates their Independence day, which is a holiday.

[Nevada Libert · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book.