Chalk animates the action of the Revolutionary War with mice and other animals a la Wallace Tripp. He begins with an overview of both the original song and an account of America's bid for independence. The music and the lyrics follow, and the next pages of this self-proclaimed nursery version of the song are filled with historical information and interesting asides. The detailed costumes are accurate throughout. The rhyming verses are set off in script, making it easy to read straight through to picture-book audiences.
Closer scrutiny of the smaller type by older readers, however, will bring forth lesser-known points of trivia. The Frenchmen are depicted as frogs, the Germans as pigs, the Native Americans as racoons, and the colonists, by and large, as an assortment of rodents. The lighthearted cartoons make this a pleasing and fun introduction to a weighty subject.
A Favorite Book
United States