Customer Reviews

The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jennifer Armstrong and illustrator Roger Roth's new book makes me feel dang near obsolete. Since I got hold of a copy, it has ignited in my seven-year-old a history-loving fire much stronger than anything I've managed to spark in the past couple of years of trying.

The premise of "The American Story" is simple: 400-odd years of U.S. history told through 100 stories (starting with the founding of what became St. Augustine, Florida) spread out over 358 pages. Armstrong mostly sticks to the "true tales" promised on the cover, though she does include the legend of John Henry as well as the commonly told story of the creation of the potato chip, only to dismiss that telling as hooey.

What she doesn't do is stick to the stories readers might expect. There's no Christopher Columbus and no 9/11, as she ends her narrative with an optimistic take on the 2000 election. In between, there's no Gettysburg Address, Black Tuesday, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, March on Washington, Lee Harvey Oswald, or Space Shuttle disaster.

Instead, Armstrong offers a magnificent mish-mash of stories both familiar and obscure. (Nobody in my house had ever heard of Boston's Great Molasses Flood of 1919, but we're glad we have now.) She connects them throughout with often surprising post-story notes glancing backwards or ahead, such as the one tying Jonas Salk's polio vaccine back to Pocahontas' death from smallpox. The ethnic and cultural balance she brings to the proceedings is eye-opening as well.

As big an undertaking as this was for Armstrong (she gets bonus points for writing the first children's book -- as far as I know -- to identify Mark Felt as Deep Throat), Roth had his work cut out for him, too. His illustrations grace every story, and his style manages to be at once sober enough for the serious tales (such as the one about the Johnstown flood) and cartoonish enough for the lighthearted ones (e.g. Ben Franklin's failed attempt to electrocute a turkey).

There's no better taste of what you'll find in this book than the adjacent stories from 1981 and 1982: "Pac-Man Fever" and "The Wall." The former delights in how a nation went bonkers over so simple a game and ushered in a new era of popular entertainment. In the latter, Armstrong offers a breathtaking description of the Vietnam memorial while Roth reflects the text with an equally powerful image spread over two full pages. Like the Wall itself, "The American Story" is a monumental work.

I can't think of a better way to introduce young people to history's pleasures and their country's past than to read this engrossing book. History is best when it's not a dry exercise in recounting dates and names but when it becomes a living art that tells us something about the past and about ourselves, about what it means to be human in a way that we recognize as part of our own lives. Armstrong's narratives, drawn from all periods of American history, are full of facts, yes, but it is what the author does with these realities that lifts this book to the level of art. This brilliant writer has the ability to bring to life stories as familiar as that of Benjamin Franklin and as little known as the invention of the potato chip (what's more American that that?) with a narrative verve and sense of detail that makes history exciting for children and really kindles their imaginations.

I got this as a gift for a 7-year old, but I read some of the stories to test out the book. Great for all ages. A lot of "I didn't know that". Good idea to learn history by learning important events such as the Great Chicago Fire, the hunt for fossils, the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and even a story about the real Johnny Appleseed. A very good gift for a student.

Capturing the essence of the United States is a large feat which the author accomplishes by telling a series of stories in chronological order. Some of the stories are well-known, and some of them have been obscure, but they are all part of the jigsaw puzzle that makes our country and people unique. Through this parade of well-told, interesting vignettes, Jennifer Armstrong manages to convey a sense of how we came to appreciate and interpret our ideals. Not all of the stories are rosy. Some are shameful; some are funny; all add to our understanding of our
complex common history.

This book is too large for young readers to read straight through. It is best read aloud to children story by story or in segments over a period of time. It is perfect for parents or classroom teachers who want to inspire an interest in history in their audiences. It gives human faces to otherwise dry historical events.

I read a review of this book and that's why I bought it. I thought it would be good for my 8 and 12 year olds to learn about American History in a fun, interesting story format. The stories are a little over my 8 year old's head, but are perfect for a 10 year old. My 12 year old isn't as interested as I was hoping he would be, but with all his other homework, I can't complain. He has shown interest in reading some of the stories, and I hope to continue reading them to my 8 year old.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with 8-12 year olds.

Both of my daughters (ages 9 and 12) very much like this book and read it frequently. It is medium-large in size (368 pages) and contains many engaging stories from American history. It is well written and the story selection is good. They love to read it in the car, at bed time, and other times of the day for a quick read. Since the book is broken into many short stories, the book is easy to browse when one's curiosity necessitates.

We own both Jennifer Armstrong's "The American Stories: 100 True Tales from American History" - this book - and William Bennett's "Children's Book of America" and we easily prefer Armstrong's "The American Story." "The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History" is over three times larger than Bennett's book, and I did not like some of the content in Bennett's book. I asked my bright nine-year-old child why she likes "The American Story" more and she said, "It has more stories. It doesn't explain too many details. It just tells you."

To adults the stories can seem too basic and the writing too simple. However, the excellent writing is what makes the stories so readable for children. Give it to a child and watch that child become engaged. Set it by a bedside and it will be read. Along the way, your child will learn some of the most interesting stories in American history.

So I would recommend "The American Story" to readers age 7 to 13, depending on the child's reading level. A bright 13 might find the writing style too basic. For learning historical facts, my older daughter, who reads at a tenth-grade level, told me that she also likes "Don't Know Much About American History" by Kenneth Davis and "The Making of America" by Robert Johnson (with a foreward by First Lady Laura Bush).

Every child should have a great collection of books, and this book belongs in that collection.

I can see a teacher using this in the classroom as an engaging way to introduce a new unit! The stories are told beautifully, and keep your attention. I love the note at the end in which the author tells you what happened, historically, after the story ended.

The illustrations are beautiful, as well, and really add to the story. The basic events the stories are about should be well-known to most kids and adults, BUT Armstrong focuses on some of the sub-events and people that you might not be as familiar with, and that's what really kept my attention!

I love that it spans from the 1500s to 2001, as well. My 12 year old daughter read this book for hours when we got it, and history isn't normally a big subject for her!

Highly recommended!

If you're looking for a holiday gift for anyone in grades 2-8 or any teacher or anyone who just enjoys history, this is the book! It will be a great read-aloud or browsing book for just about anyone.

These short stories cover events in American history in an interesting and creative way. Readers will want to know more as they read about Thoreau, aliens reported in The Sun, Johnny Appleseed, The Essex and the Edmund Fitzgerald, the St. Valentine's Day massacre, Eleanor Roosevelt, and polio. Armstrong has chosen stories that people have heard of but may not know, and connected them to the history of their time. It is a book that inspires everyone to become more of a historian. Well written and well illustrated, this book should become a staple in homes and classrooms.

In this splendid volume, Jennifer Armstrong tells some well known (although now-a-days that is not a given) and not so well know tales from our country's past.

I consider myself a student of American history but I did not know that long before the 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast, The New York Journal "reported" their own sequel to that book, in 1897, in daily installments called "Edison's Conquest of Mars."

I did not know the story of Thaddeus Lowe and his contributions to aerial surveillance for the Union during the Civil War. In one of the many, many author notes following the story, Armstrong explains that Lowe Observatory near Pasadena California is named for him.

The scope of stories is diverse. Spindletop, Typhoid Mary, Mount Saint Helens, the Rumble in the Jungle, Custer, ENIAC, Carrie Nation, the Chicago fire, Popé and the Pueblo revolt, and Asser Levy are names and events that we should know.

The stories are related chronologically, in three page bites, perfect for reading aloud and Roth's illustrations complement the stories. At the back, there is an extensive bibliography and index. The chapters are also grouped by "story arc" categories, such as, "Steel," "Cuba," "Government and Law," "the Moon and Stars" and whimsically, "Bananas." I do wish the page numbers had been included here. It takes an extra step to find the story in the table-of-contents or index.

As a librarian, I found myself matching these chapters with other books on the subject.

1927 The Spirit of St. Louis = Flight by Robert Burleigh
1954 Brown v. Board of Education = Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
1884 Hold Your Horses, Here Come the Elephants = Twenty-One Elephants by Phil Bildner
1938 War of the Worlds = Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account Of The 1938 War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast's wonderful and entertaining Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account Of The 1938 War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast
1925 Mush = Togoby Robert J. Blake
1846 I'm Not Leaving this Jail = Henry Builds a Cabin and the other Henry books by D.B. Johnson

There are so many more.

Parents, grandparents, school librarians, YOU can be the storyteller and share the tales that shaped our nation.

I bought this book for my 8 and 10 year old to learn more about American History while we live abroad in Europe. I was more than pleased when I began reading the stories and found that they love the book! From the Lewis & Clark expedition to Pac Man, the stories are interesting and succinct enough to hold my kids' interest.