Massachusetts

• Motto: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem. By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.
• Nickname: The Bay State
• State Flower: Mayflower
• State Bird: Chickadee

1. Letting Swift River Go by Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Little Brown, 1992.
2. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Viking Press, 1944.
3. Bus Route to Boston by Maryann Cocca-Leffler. Boyds Mills, 2009.
4. Comet’s Nine Lives by Jan Brett. G.P. Putman, 1996.
5. Obadiah the Bold by Brinton Turkle. Viking, 1969.
6. Pennies for Elephants by Lita Judge.  Disney-Hyperion, 2009.
7. Bernard Sees the World by Berniece Freschet. Illustrated by Gina Freschet. Scribner’s, 1976.
8. A Year in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. Illustrated by  Giovanni Manna. Creative Editions, 2017.
9. C Is for Cape Cod by Christie Laurie. Photographs by Steve Heaslip. Islandport Press, 2014.
10. B Is for Berkshires by Joan Duris. Illustrated by Gillian Jones.  Islandport Press, 2015.

It seems as if there should have been more Massachusetts picture books that rise to the surface when I think about Boston and Cape Cod and Cambridge and all that kind of American heritage kind of stuff. I suppose if I had included the Pilgrims and Massachusetts Bay Colony, there would have been more. But I thought I’d concentrate on the many other sights and events and cultural artifacts that make Massachusetts interesting.

What picture books do you associate with the state of Massachusetts?