Overview

"New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Honor recipient Steve Sheinkin gives young readers an American history lesson they'll never forget in the fun and funny King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution, featuring illustrations by Tim Robinson. A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing What do the most famous traitor in history, hundreds of naked soldiers, and a salmon lunch have in common? They're all part of the amazing story of the American Revolution. Entire books have been written about the causes of the American Revolution. This isn't one of them. What it is, instead, is utterly interesting, ancedotes (John Hancock fixates on salmon), from the inside out (at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, hundreds of soldiers plunged into battle ""naked as they were born"") close-up narratives filled with little-known details, lots of quotes that capture the spirit and voices of the principals (""If need be, I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston"" --George Washington), and action. It's the story of the birth of our nation, complete with soldiers, spies, salmon sandwiches, and real facts you can't help but want to tell to everyone you know. ""For middle-graders who find Joy Hakim's 11-volume A History of US just too daunting, historian Sheinkin offers a more digestible version of our country's story...The author expertly combines individual stories with sweeping looks at the larger picture--tucking in extracts from letters, memorable anecdotes, pithy characterizations and famous lines with a liberal hand.""--Kirkus Reviews Also by Steve Sheinkin: Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America"

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9781250075772

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For middle-graders who find Joy Hakim's 11-volume A History of US just too daunting, historian Sheinkin offers a more digestible version of our country's story--opening with an account of the American Revolution from the despised but not-unreasonable Stamp Act to the dramatic race to Yorktown. Beneath breezy chapter subheads like Revere and That Other Guy and Party at Fort Ti, the author expertly combines individual stories with sweeping looks at the larger picture--tucking in extracts from letters, memorable anecdotes, pithy characterizations (.. .John Adams, well known lawyer, Patriot, and grump ) and famous lines with a liberal hand. Except for a few cramped maps, Robinson's illustrations are all line-drawn cartoon portraits that echo the narrative's informality without adding much. Still, capped with a healthy Whatever Happened To... section, this animates the Revolution's times, events and people in a way that standard textbooks don't. A second volume on the Civil War, Two Miserable Presidents (ISBN: 978-1-59643-320-5-0), is also out. (index, adult-level source lists) (Nonfiction. 10-13) Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews For middle-graders who find Joy Hakim's 11-volume A History of US just too daunting, historian Sheinkin offers a more digestible version of our country's story--opening with an account of the American Revolution from the despised but not-unreasonable Stamp Act to the dramatic race to Yorktown. Beneath breezy chapter subheads like Revere and That Other Guy and Party at Fort Ti, the author expertly combines individual stories with sweeping looks at the larger picture--tucking in extracts from letters, memorable anecdotes, pithy characterizations (.,. John Adams, well known lawyer, Patriot, and grump ) and famous lines with a liberal hand. Except for a few cramped maps, Robinson's illustrations are all line-drawn cartoon portraits that echo the narrative's informality without adding much. Still, capped with a healthy Whatever Happened To... section, this animates the Revolution's times, events and people in a way that standard textbooks don't. A second volume on the Civil War, Two Miserable Presidents (ISBN: 978-1-59643-320-5-0), is also out. (index, adult-level source lists) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

Author Information

Steve Sheinkin is the award-winning author of several fascinating books on American history, including The Notorious Benedict Arnold, which won the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for nonfiction, and received three starred reviews; and Bomb, a National Book Award finalist and recipient of five starred reviews. He lives in Saratoga Springs, NY.

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