King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution - Hardcover

Sheinkin, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596433191 ISBN 13: 9781596433199

Publisher: Flash Point, 2008

Synopsis

KING GEORGE NEVER DID UNDERSTAND AMERICANS

"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, antedotes (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 narrative 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.
King George: What Was His Problem? is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

About this title

About the Author

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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Reviews

In his amusing opening statement, Confessions of a Textbook Writer, Sheinkin divulges that while writing history textbooks, he stashed away the good stuff, cool stories that he knew would be edited out. Some of them appear in this riveting account that was first published as a paperback called The American Revolution (2005). The new edition features many droll line drawings that suit the tone of the writing and source notes for the extensive quotes. Sheinkin clearly conveys the gravity of events during the Revolutionary period, but he also has the knack of bringing historical people to life and showing what was at stake for them as individuals as well as for the new nation. Often irreverent, the humor and informal tone of the writing help break through the patina of praise that too often encases figures from the American Revolution in books for young people. Vivid storytelling makes this an unusually readable history book. Grades 4-7. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Flash Point
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1596433191
• ISBN 13: 9781596433199
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Robinson Tim
• Number of pages: 208