Francis Scott Key and "The Star Spangled Banner"

by Lynea Bowdish, Harry Burman (Illustrator)

Book by Bowdish, Lynea, Burman, Harry

Genres: History, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good intro to the birth of our national anthem.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third picture book biography I've read on this subject this month and this is by far the most basic. The limited text allows this version to be shared with a primary grade classroom. This is definitely a book well targeted at younger readers. It has all the important points without getting too bogged down with anecdotal information. It picks out what's important and zeroes in on it.

[Molly Housdan · Rating 5 out of 5]

On September 13th, 1814, tragedy struck on Fort McHenry. The British attacked this fort just outside of Baltimore. Through the chaos, Dr. Beanes and Francis were held captive by the British and were forced to watch the attack from a boat. The battle was long and in the dusk of the morning, Francis looked up and out of the clouds of dust, a red, white and blue flag stood waving high. He was so joyful he wrote a poem, that poem then became something so important in our lives that have been sent through generations to generations throughout the country.
I thought this book was very well written out and easily explained for younger kids' point of view.
A way I can incorporate this in my classroom is in a social studies unit, or if we are just having a discussion on why we have The Star-Spangled Banner and why we sing it at games or special events. This will also open up an opportunity to just show how this made a huge impact on our country.

[Emma Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many people know the country's national anthem, but not many people know the origin story of it. Francis Scott Key tried to convince British troops to free a captive American during the War of 1812. They agreed, but the two men had to stay with the British until after a battle. During the battle, Key could not tell who was winning until the sun rose the next morning and the American flag was still standing. This book explains the complete story in a compelling way.

I really liked this book. It told an interesting part of history in a good way. The illustrations are really beautiful. I think it's really interesting to see how certain parts of the story directly coincide with verses in the song.

I would use this in an elementary or middle school classroom during a unit on American history.

[Ammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We memorized this earlier this year and the girls loved reading more about the story behind the song.

[Megan Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francis Scott Key was a lawyer from Maryland, but he also liked to write poems. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the British invaded Washington, D.C. and burned the White House and Capitol building. The British were going to attack Baltimore next, and they had prisoner one of Francis's friends, Dr. William Beanes (who helped treat wounded British soldiers). Francis wanted the British to set Dr. Beanes free, so he boarded the ship to convince them to let him go. The British agreed to let Dr. Beanes go on one condition, he and Francis could not leave the ship until after the British had attacked Fort McHenry. The battle at Fort McHenry lasted through the night, and in the morning, Francis and Dr. Beanes awoke to see the American flag flying over the fort. Francis was so inspired that he wrote a poem entitled "The Star-Spangled Banner", and it became an instant hit; later it was turned into a song and made the national anthem of the United States of America.
I really liked this book! It was very cool to read about how "The Star-Spangled Banner" came to be and what the inspiration for it was. Even though I learned about it in school, I did not know some of the facts that were talked about in this book. The illustrations were beautiful!
I could use this book in a classroom to talk about how the national anthem came to be. It would be a good book to use to teach "The Star-Spangled Banner" to children because the words can be found inside!

[Brittany Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Francis Scott Key was a lawyer who like to write poetry. During the war of 1812, it looked as if the United States might lose the war. Dr. William Beanes attempted to help soldiers who became hurt in battles, including the British soldiers that were taken captive. Francis Scott Key bravely approached a British ship in hopes to negotiate the release of Dr. Beanes. The British agreed to let the men go after they attacked Baltimore. The two men waited on the ship as they watched the Americans and British battle at Baltimore. In the end, they discovered that America had won the battle. It was then that Francis Scott Key wrote a poem and set it to the music of a song that he knew. This song became known as the Star Spangled Banner and became the United States national anthem.

I really loved this biography. Not only was this book easy to read due to the small amount of text per page, but also the illustrations throughout this book are gorgeous.

I think that this book is a must have non-fiction resource book for a classroom. This book could be used to cover a variety of topics such as: early America, famous Americans, War of 1812, and the National Anthem.

[Cc Fortenberry]

The book is about Francis Scott Key writing the Star Spangled Banner. During the War of 1812, the U.S. was fighting the British and Key's friend Dr. William Beanes was imprisoned on a British ship off the coast of Baltimore. Key went to the British ships to plea for Dr. Beanes freedom and ended up watching the Battle of Fort McHenry from the enemy's boats. At sunrise, he saw the American flag emerge from the smoke and wrote what we now know as our national anthem.

I didn't really like this book. I thought it was kind of boring, but the pictures were pretty good.

I would not use this book in clinic.

[Mistiemae1 Downs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francis Scott Key and "The Star Spangled Banner" is a brief, fact-based narrative of the birth of the United States national anthem. The text is minimal and mostly informative without a lot of nationalism to bog it down. Refreshing, actually. I was very appreciative that the author did not overly heroize Francis Scott Key.

I will say, though, that if historic figures would like the children of the future to take them seriously, they should probably not have names like "Dr. Beanes." ;) My kids could not stop laughing at the good doctor.

[Mikayla Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about how we got our National Anthem in the United States. Francis Scott Key wrote the song as a poem after watching the battle at Fort McHenry. It was then printed in the newspaper in Baltimore. Everyone then began singing it and eventually it became our National Anthem.
I really liked this book. I like the illustrations and how only certain times you could make out the expressions on people's faces.
This book would be good to read when talking about the War of 1812 or even when you are talking about the national anthem and how we got it.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew WHEN the Star Spangled Banner was written. This was a great picture book and very informative in a brief and to the point style.

[Emma Fields]

Summary: This tells the story of a man named Frances Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem. It outlines the story of the was prior to the song being written and Frances’s involvement in it. It then outlines him writing the song and his inspiration for it!

Analysis: I really enjoyed how it showed his involvement in the war and showed the exact timeline with the dates in the upper right hand corner. I think that this book does a good job of visually representing war without being graphic. I also think that it does a good of showing the process of him writing the song.

How I would use this book in a classroom: This is a very good book to integrate into a timeline of different books to go through the History of America. Doing a read aloud that is Informative and in order with other books about American history. I also could use this book when talking about people doing something different than what they thought their purpose was.