Saturday Review of Books: July 13, 2013

“In general, summer oughtn’t be an extension of school: It should be a time for idleness and part-time jobs and hanging out, for mowing grass or souping up cars, for rainy-day Monopoly games and Dr. Moreau-like experiments on hapless insects (“The House of Pain!”), for getting bored and exploring what used to be called one’s inner resources. And for reading purely, solely, entirely for the fun of it.” ~Michael Dirda

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Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

1. Amy @ Hope is the Word (Runaway Dolls)
2. Amy @ Hope is the Word (Seasons of a Mother’s Heart bookclub)
3. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila)
4. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (Loteria by Mario Alberto Zambrano)
5. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (Doctor Who: Beautiful Chaos)
6. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay)
7. Barbara H. (The Magician’s Nephew)
8. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro)
9. Barbara H. (The Mitford Books)
10. Aloi @ Guiltless Reading (And the Soft Wind Blows by Lance Umenhofer)
11. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Saga Volume Two)
12. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
13. Hope (The Man Who Knew Too Much)
14. Hope (Cy Whittaker’s Place)
15. Glynn Young (Activist Faith)
16. Beckie @ ByTheBook (A Matter of Trust)
17. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Wings of Glass)
18. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Mystery of The Heart)
19. Lazygal (The Tudor Conspiracy)
20. Lazygal (Bloodlines)
21. Lazygal (A Conspiracy of Faith)
22. Lazygal (Shatter the Bones)
23. Lazygal (The Ghost Riders of Ordebec)
24. Lazygal (The Bone Season)
25. Lazygal (Seven for A Secret)
26. Lazygal (A History of Merton College)
27. dawn (Tending the Heart of Virtue)
28. Susanne~LivingToTell (One Summer)
29. Cherrytea (Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird)
30. Lisa (The Butterfly Sister)
31. Becky (Fatherless)
32. Becky (Heaven)
33. Becky (Love Takes Wing)
34. Becky (Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart)
35. Becky (Year of the Book)
36. Becky (Big Guy Took My Ball)
37. Becky (Case of Cautious Coquette)
38. Becky (Death on the Nile)
39. Becky (Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass)
40. Becky (I Saw Esau)
41. Thoughts of Joy (Whodunnit?)
42. Thoughts of Joy (The Light Between Oceans)
43. Brittanie (TJ and the Time Stumblers: Switched!)
44. Gina Burgess (Angels in the Fire)
45. Annie Kate (Cooked by Michael Pollan)
46. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (Emma & Knightley)

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The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon by Janie Jaehyun Park

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

Wikipedia: “Persimmons are eaten fresh, dried, raw, or cooked. When eaten fresh they are usually eaten whole like an apple or cut into quarters, though with some varieties it is best to peel the skin first. One way to consume very ripe persimmons, which can have the texture of pudding, is to remove the top leaf with a paring knife and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Riper persimmons can also be eaten by removing the top leaf, breaking the fruit in half and eating from the inside out. The flesh ranges from firm to mushy, and the texture is unique. The flesh is very sweet.”

In Korea, according to this folktale that author Janie Park heard from her grandmother, dried persimmons were given to children as a sweet treat. I’ve never tried persimmon dried or any other way. Have you?

The tale itself features a foolish tiger, a crying baby, and a hapless thief. The tiger learn a lesson about pride, the baby gets a treat, and the thief turns into an honest man–all because of a bit of dried persimmon fruit. I’m not sure there is any moral to the story, but it is an incentive to think about tigers, persimmons, babies, and thieves–all subjects I’ve not thought much about, certainly not in conjunction with one another.

The illustrations are a bit oddball for my tastes–an orange tiger with blueish purple stripes? The author/illustrator says she used “gesso, to make a unique texture on the paper, and then . . . acrylics” to create “brilliant, swirling illustrations” in “modern adaptions of the grand Korean artistic tradition.” I’m not enough of an art expert or an expert on Korea to know how successful she has been, but I prefer my pictures more crisp and detailed, less blobby and texturized. Some other reviewer for Booklist said the tiger in Ms. Park’s illustrations was “a coiled calligraphic mass of fear.” “Each to his own.

I did like the story. Unlike many folktales, it’s just scary enough with the tiger, but not really violent or horrific. The tiger is rather silly in his misunderstanding of the interactions between baby and mother, and the thief reforms himself after his accidental wild tiger ride. Preschoolers and primary age children should enjoy this taste of Korean folklore.

Maybe they would also enjoy a Korean persimmon treat, too. You can purchase an 8 oz. bag of dried persimmon slices at Amazon for about $10.00.

Goyangi Means Cat by Christine McDonnell

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

Soo Min comes from Korea to join her adoptive family in the United States. Everything is strange and foreign to her, except for Goyangi, the cat. When Goyangi slips out the open front door and is lost, Soo Min feels lost and alone, too, and only the return of Goyangi the cat can make Soo Min feel at home in this new place.

This book is unlike the others I’ve reviewed this week in that it’s set in the U.S, not in Korea. However, the story gives insight into Korean culture and life, highlighting Korean vocabulary and opening the door to empathy for young readers who can imagine what it would feel like to be a new place where they couldn’t understand the language or the customs. Goyangi the cat becomes a familiar comfort for Soo Min as she navigates her new life in America.

Christine McDonnell, the author of this simple adoption story, is the mother of two Korean-born children. Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, the illustrators are a married couple who used “paper collage and acrylic and oil paint” to create the artwork in the book. “The Patterns used in the paper collage were selected to reflect the Eastern and Western worlds of Soo Min.” Korean words written in Korean hanja are embedded into each of the illustrations.

So, are you ready to earn some Korean words (with English spelling, not hanja)?

Anyah=No
Ah-po=hurt
Gom=teddy bear
Mok-da=eat
Jip=house
Bahp=rice
Chim-dae=bed
Po-po=kiss
Omah=mother
Apah=dad
Goyangi=cat

We have a dog named Domo, from the Japanese (abreviated) “thank you”. Maybe our next cat, a very unlikely acquisition, will be named Goyangi, if I can figure out how to pronounce the word. This picture book is informative, but it doesn’t include a pronunciation guide.

Bee-Bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

What do you think of when you think of Korean food? Since I don’t really know much about Korean cuisine, the only things that come to mind are rice and kimchi. At least, those were the only Korean dishes I knew anything about—until I read about Bee-Bim Bop.

Bee-bim bop means “mix mix rice”, and the child in this rhythmical, rollicking story is hungry hungry hungry/for some bee-bim bop!”, a Korean dish made with egg, veggies, a little meat, and rice. Of course, the real aloud time with this book must, must, must be followed up with a cooking adventure making Bee-Bim Bop. Fortunately, there’s a recipe in the back of the book. (Or here’s an internet recipe, called Bibimbap. Apparently, Korean spelling is somewhat flexible.)

You can get this book on the Kindle, but the layout is odd. The pages keep getting repeated, first in small print, and then with the same words in larger print. I don’t know why Amazon would let the book show up in this unwieldy formatting, but at any rate, I’d advise searching out a hard copy of the book to enjoy with your preschool or primary age student.

Whatever the format, I do recommend Ms. Park’s happy story of a Korean family shopping for and cooking a family favorite. The illustrations by Ho Baek Lee. a resident of Seoul, South Korea, are cartoonish enough to fit with the upbeat tone of the story and realistic enough to give children a family with whom to identify. The entire experience of reading this book aloud makes me hungry, hungry, hungry for some bee-bim bop!

Other reviews: Cynsations by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Dashing Bean, Betsy at Fuse #8, Fiction Addict.

Peach Heaven by Yangsook Choi

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea I’m working hard on my Picture Book Around the World sequel to Picture Book Preschool, my preschool read aloud curriculum for homeschooling your preschooler or kindergartner. This week at Semicolon, we’re going to be visiting Korea through the medium of a treasure trove of picture books featuring that country and its children.

The setting is Puchon, South Korea, 1976. Yangsook is day-dreaming about a peach garden in heaven–just like the calendar picture of children playing in a peach orchard that is posted above her desk. Puchon is famous for growing beautiful, juicy peaches that are sold all over Korea.

The voices of her grandma and her little brother come intruding into Yangsook’s daydream, telling her to come and look at the rain which has turned to hail. But it’s not hail—it’s raining peaches!

There were a couple of oddities in this story, which is actually based on a childhood memory of the author. First of all, I’ve never heard of peaches raining down from the sky, but I’m willing to suspend disbelief. But the other odd scene is when the the townsfolk bring the peaches back to the farmers’ orchards and tie them to the trees with yarn. Why? To console the farmers for the loss of most of their peach crop. I suppose it made a good visual image to tie the peaches to the trees, but it seems rather superfluous in practical terms.

Anyway, I doubt children will have the same questions that I did. Instead, they will most likely enjoy this quiet little story of a girl growing up in South Korea and an memorable episode in her childhood. The watercolor illustrations, which were done by the author, complement the story and its mood quite well.

The Firekeeper’s Son by Linda Sue Park

Picture Book Around the World: Reading Through Korea

“We live in an important village,” Sang-hee’s father said.

The village doesn’t look very important to Sang-hee. However, it is a special place because Sang-hee’s father climbs the mountain near the coastal village in Korea every evening to light the watchfire. Then the firekeeper on the next mountain sees the fire that signals that everything is peaceful, no invaders, and he lights his fire as a signal to the next firekeeper and so on, all the way to the king’s palace in central Korea. The king sees the series of mountaintop watchfires and knows that his kingdom is safe.

If there is no fire, it means that the kingdom of Korea is in danger, and the king will send brave, noble soldiers to defend the land. Sang-hee knows the importance of peace in the land but wishes he could see the king’s soldiers just once. What will Sang-hee do when one night the watchfire doesn’t appear?

In an Author’s Note at the end of the book, Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park says that the bonfire signal system was used in Korea up until the late nineteenth century to protect the land from invasion. The actual system of fires was more complicated and extensive than the simple chain of watchfires presented in this picture book, but as a vehicle for character development and for conveying some information about the history and culture of Korea, the “firekeeper system” is a friendly and constructive image.

Sang-hee finds himself in a situation where he must decide whether to take responsibility and live up to his position as the firekeeper’s son, or to indulge his own fantasies at the expense of developing his character. It’s a decision that all of us, both children and adults, face frequently.

Julie Downing’s watercolor paintings bring out the colors and beauty of early nineteenth century Korea for those of us (me sometimes) who tend to think of the past in shades of gray. One illustration in particular (pages 18-19) is all purples and greens and yellows with a stunning late evening feel to it as Sang-hee and his mother look to the mountain and realize that something is wrong because the evening watchfire has not been lit.

Linda Sue Park is an exceptionally talented Korean American author who won the Newbery Award for her historical fiction novel, A Single Shard. She’s written several other books for young adults and middle grade readers, including Seesaw Girl, The Kite Fighters, A Long Walk to Water, and Keeping Score. Other picture books by Ms. Park include The Third Gift, a Christmas story about where the wise men may have gotten the gift of myrrh, and Bee-Bim Bop!, a book about a family cooking rice Korean-style.

Saturday Review of Books: July 6, 2013

“The first time I read an excellent work, it is to me just as if I gained a new friend; and when I read over a book I have perused before, it resembles the meeting of an old one.” ~Sir James Goldsmith

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Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

1. LoneStarLibrarian (The Interestings)
2. Semicolon (Speaking from Among the Bones)
3. Hope (The Man Who Knew Too Muich by Chesterton)
4. Barbara H. (Through Gates of Splendor)
5. Becky (Stealing the Preacher)
6. Becky (Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life)
7. Becky (Erasing Hell)
8. Becky (Three Rivers Rising)
9. Becky (Zoo Station)
10. Becky (Earth Afire)
11. Becky (Tangled Web)
12. Becky (Paris)
13. Becky (Belgian Twins)
14. Girl Detective (A Bunch o’Books)
15. dawn (Brat Farrar by Tey)
16. Thoughts of Joy (The Program)
17. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Loyalty)
18. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Death of a Cad)
19. Crystal (Zero Tolerance)
20. Rachel (The Heiress of Winterwood)
21. Elizabeth (The First Gardener)
22. Susan (Love’s Reckoning)
23. Josh (Caught (The Missing #5)
24. Josh (Freeheads)
25. Glynn Young (Bone Fires: Poems)
26. LianneLavoie (Ghosts Beneath our Feet)
27. Dana (NIV Leadership Bible)
28. Anita (The Life List)
29. Michelle (The Fault in our Stars)
30. Janel (The Geneva Decision)
31. Shan (On Black Sisters Street)
32. Julie (Parallax View)
33. Pam at The Reading Mouse (Building Stories)
34. Bonnie (Under Fishbone Clouds)
35. Joseph R. @ Zombie Parents Guide (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)
36. Lazygal (The Dying Hours)
37. Lazygal (The Door Within)
38. Lazygal (Mister Max)
39. Lazygal (One Last Thing Before I Go)
40. Lazygal (The Boy on the Porch)
41. Lazygal (Merlin’s Blade)
42. Lazygal (The Aleppo Codex)
43. Lazygal (A History of Merton College)
44. Lucybird’s Book Blog (her Fearful Symmetry)
45. Lucybird’s Book Blog (A Hug for Humphrey)
46. SmallWorld Reads (The Thirteenth Tale)
47. SmallWorld Reads (A Land More Kind Than Home)
48. Sarah Morrison (Frances and Bernard)
49. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Proof)
50. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Trinity: Military War Dog)
51. Beckie @ ByTheBook (A Plain Death)
52. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Yesterday’s Tomorrow)
53. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Placebo)
54. Sarah Morrison (Elizabeth Street)
55. Amy @ Hope Is the Word (Through Gates of Splendor)
56. Janet (Olive Kitteridge)
57. Susanne@Living To Tell (House of Secrets)
58. Colleen@Books in the City (Wedding Night)
59. Susanne~LivingToTell (Woman’s Study Bible NIV)
60. Becky (unChristian)
61. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
62. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (City of Hope)
63. 5 books on my future reading list

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The Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery

I have had this memoir on my TBR shelf for a long time, but I finally got the urge to go ahead and read it when Brown Bear Daughter left about a week ago to go back to Slovakia for her third summer mission trip there. Dominika Dery’s memoir of her childhood lived under Communist rule in a village on the outskirts of Prague, Czechoslovakia, obviously doesn’t take place in Slovakia, but rather in the Czech Republic. However, it’s as close as I can get right now. (Does anyone know a really good book, fiction or memoir, set in Slovakia?)

Dominika grew up in a loving home with her mother, a writer of technical reports, and her father, a former economist who is now a taxi-driver, and her much-older sister, who comes across mostly as a spoiled brat and a world-class flirt. Dominika herself seems to be somewhat spoiled, but not a brat. The parents are dissidents associated with the 1968 failed “revolution” called the Prague Spring, which ended when the Russians invaded to stop the reforms of Communism that were being instituted in Czechoslovakia. As a result of their complicity in the Prague Spring reforms, Dominika’s parents are consigned to low level jobs and constantly in danger of being denounced to the political authorities.

Dominika, born in 1975, slowly becomes aware over the course of her childhood of her parents’ political predicament, but she nevertheless remembers a mostly idyllic childhood enlivened by the resilient optimism of her father and the style and panache of her beautiful mother. Even when the family goes on vacation to Poland of all places and the car breaks down because some corrupt mechanic replaced the working engine with a defective one, Dominika and her parents manage to have a good and memorable holiday under ostensibly trying circumstances.

I think I’ll loan this book to Dancer Daughter(23) because of the Czech setting (she’s been to Slovakia a couple of times, too) and also because Dominika spends a lot of her childhood studying to become a dancer. The story of how she gets into a dance school that normally excludes the children of dissidents and only admits children whose parents have Communist Party connections is fascinating, and Dominika’s indomitable spirit is sure to charm the readers of her memoir.

The book ends in 1985 when Dominika was only ten years old. But it seems an appropriate place to stop. Dominika has been accepted to study at the State Conservatory in Prague. Her parents are still stuck in political limbo, but there is some stirring of hope for the future. Things are beginning to change, with the Solidarity movement in Poland and Mikhail Gorbachev‘s rise to power in the Soviet Union. In November-December 1989, The Velvet or Gentle Revolution restored democracy in Czechoslovakia. In 1993, Czechoslovakia became two separate nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

From an adult looking back at childhood point of view, Dominika Dery sees things this way:

“This was the country of little cakes and sausages. This is the memory of my childhood. Driving back home in our old, rusty Skoda; my father’s big hands steering us safely through the night; the soft touch of my mother’s hand on my head. This was the happiest time in my life. The time when we had no money, no choice and no chance.

It would take me another eighteen years to realize that what we had back then was as much as anyone on earth would ever need.

We had each other, and plenty of love in our hearts.”

Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery was recommended by Kerry at Shelf Elf.

Celebration! Happy Independence Day!

I’m re-posting this list of 55 ways to celebrate the 4th of July–or to celebrate the USA any day.

1. Read the Declaration of Independence. Take a Declaration of Independence quiz. Learn more about American Independence Day at Independence Day on the Net.

2. Sing or learn about The Battle Hymn of the Republic

3. Some picture books for July 4th:
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Paul Revere’s Ride.Illustrated by Ted Rand. Dutton, 1990.
Dalgliesh, Alice.The 4th of July Story. Alladin, 1995. (reprint edition)
Spier, Peter. The Star-Spangled Banner. Dragonfly Books, 1992.
Bates, Katharine Lee. America the Beautiful. Illustrated by Neil Waldman. Atheneum, 1993.
Devlin, Wende. Cranberry Summer.
St. George, Judith. The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence.
Osornio, Catherine. The Declaration of Independence from A to Z.
More picture books for Independence Day.

4. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born July 4, 1804. Advice from Nathaniel Hawthorne on Blogging.

5. Stephen Foster was born on July 4, 1826. The PBS series American Experience has an episode on the life of Stephen Foster, author of songs such as Beautiful Dreamer and Oh! Susanna.

6. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day, July 4, 1826, fifty years after adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Adams’ last words were: “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”
Jefferson’s last words: “Is it the fourth?”
I highly recommend both David McCullough’s biography of John Adams and the PBS minseries based on McCullough’s book.

7. Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. He is supposed to have said, “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it,” and “I have never been hurt by anything I didn’t say.”
Also, “we do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.”
Amen to that.
More on Calvin Coolidge and the Fourth of July from A Quiet Simple Life.

8. You could make your own fireworks for the Fourth of July. Engineer Husband really used to do this when he was a young adolescent, and I can’t believe his parents let him. He tried to make nitroglycerine once, but he got scared and made his father take it outside and dispose of it! Maybe you should just read about how fireworks are made and then imagine making your own.

9. On July 4, 1970 Casey Kasem hosted “American Top 40” on radio for the first time. I cannot tell a lie; in high school I spent every Sunday afternoon listening to Casey Kasem count down the Top 40 hits of the week. Why not make up your own Top 40 All-American Hits List and play it on the fourth for your family?

10. Via Ivy’s Coloring Page Search Engine, I found this page of free coloring sheets for the 4th of July. We liked the fireworks page.

11. Fly your American flag.

12. Read a poem to your children about Leetla Giorgio Washeenton. Or read this biography of George Washington.

13. Read about another president you admire.

14. Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Subtitled “The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787,” this book is the one that gave me the story of the US constitution. It’s suitable for older readers, at least middle school age, but it’s historical writing at its best. I loved reading about Luther Martin of Maryland, whom Henry Adams described as “the notorious reprobate genius.” Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts who was”always satisfied to shoot an arrow without caring about the wound he caused.” (Both Gerry and Martin refused to sign the final version of the Constitution.) Of course, there were Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution, George Washington, who presided over the convention in which all present knew that they were creating a presidency for him to fill, and Ben Franklin, the old man and elder statesman who had to be carried to the convention in a sedan chair. Ms. Bowen’s book brings all these characters and more to life and gives the details of the deliberations of the constitutional convention in readable and interesting format.

15. Watch a movie.
Getttysburg is a tragedy within the tragedy that was the Civil War, but it’s also patriotic and inspiring.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington has Jimmy Stewart demonstrating what’s wrong and what’s right about American government and politics.
I like 1776, the musical version of the making of the Declaration Of Independence, but it does have some mildly risque moments.
Other patriotic movies. And a few more.

16. Have yourself some BarBQ.

17. Play a game. Organize a bike parade.

18. Take a virtual tour of Philadelphia’s famous historical sites. Learn more about the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross Home, Valley Forge, Brandywine Battlefield, Independence Hall, and other sites.

19. Host a (cup)cake decorating contest.

20. Download a free Independence Day wallpaper for your computer. More free wallpapers.

21. Photograph some fireworks. Check out some fireworks photographs.

22. Listen to The Midnight Ride from Focus on the Family’s series, Adventures in Odyssey, to be broadcast on Wednesday July 4th.

23. Read aloud the Declaration of Independence.

24. Listen to some marches by John Philip Sousa, performed by the U.S. Marine Band. I played several of these, not very well, on my flute when I was in Homer Anderson’s Bobcat Band.

25. Enjoy A Capitol Fourth, broadcast live on PBS from Washington, D.C.

26. Send an e-card to someone you love.

27. Pledge allegiance with Red Skelton.

28. Bake and decorate a flag cake.

29. When Life sends you an Independence Day, make lemonade.

30. July is National Hot Dog Month and National Baked Bean Month.

31. Fourth of July Crafts and Treats: cupcakes, windsocks, stars, hats, and more.

32. A patriotic pedicure?

33. More Fourth of July crafts.

34. Patriotic parfait.

35. Start an all-American read aloud, such as:
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes.
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott.
Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit.
Tolliver’s Secret by Esther Woods Brady.

36. Independence Day printables from Crayola. And more coloring pages from Moms Who Think.

37. Sing the U.S. national anthem, Oh, Say Can You See?, all the way through. Memorize at least the first verse.

38. More Fourth of July recipes.

39. We always attend the Fourth of July parade in Friendswood, Texas, except not this year since some of us will be traveling. Anyway, find a parade and take the kids or grandkids or neighbor kids. A Fourth of July parade is a celebration of American patriotism in a capsule.

40. Free printable patriotic U.S.A. calendars.

41. Fourth of July art projects for preschoolers and the young at heart.

42. Read a version of Patrick Henry’s great Give Me Liberty speech.

43. Check out A Book of Americans by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet. It’s a great book of poems about various famous Americans, and I think lots of kids would enjoy hearing it read aloud, maybe a poem a day in July.

44. Make a pinwheel or other printable craft. Or print some games.

45. Spend some time praying for our nation’s leaders: President Barack Obama, your senators, your representatives, the governor of your state, your state representatives, and others.

46. Wear red, white, and blue. Or put red and blue streaks in your hair. When I was in junior high, flag pins and ponchos were in style. I had a flag pin and a red, white, and blue poncho, both of which I wore together. I was stylin’!

47. On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau went to live near Walden Pond. Thoreau and Sherry on Clothing.

48. Any of the following nonfiction books for children would make a good Fourth of July history lesson:
The Story of the Boston Tea Party by R. Conrad Stein
The Story of Lexington and Concord by R. Conrad Stein
The Signers: The 56 Stories Behind the Declaration of Independence by Dennis Brindell Fradin
The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Norman Richards
The American Revolution (Landmark Books) by Bruce Jr Bliven
The War for Independence: The Story of the American Revolution by Albert Marrin
The Story of Valley Forge by R. Conrad Stein
Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz
The Story of the Battle of Yorktown by Anderson
Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen.
The Story of the Constitution by Marilyn Prolman
In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bill of Rights by Russell Freedman
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy
George Washington and the Founding of a Nation by Albert Marrin
The Story of Old Glory by Mayer

49. Host a block party or potluck dinner.

50. Take a picnic to the park.

51. Read 1776 by David McCullough or the two companion novels, Chains and Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson. All three would make great Fourth of July reads. Semicolon thoughts here.

52. Serve a Fourth of July “mocktail”–red, white and blue. (Lots of other ideas on Pinterest.)

53. More Pinterest. And lots more.

54. Host a Fourth of July water balloon fight.

55. Give thanks to the Lord of all nations for the United States of America, that He has made this country, sustained it, and blessed it. Pray that we will be a nation of people that honor Him.