My petites have been asking a lot of questions about the United States and our history lately.  My husband loves politics, election cycles and history; so we are fully embracing their curious minds and spending quite a bit of time talking about the history of our country and some of the things that make America so special.

Since this is an election year, I wanted to start to share some of the books that we are reading and really enjoying.

For part one of our series of Petite Patriots we want to share two of Perter Spier’s books – his illustrations are fantastic, they make these books so much fun to read.

We the People: The Constitution of the United States (Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1987)  What I love about this is that the book covers all of it, the beginning of the book is the illustrated preamble of the constitution, but then we get the full deal in the pages to follow.  Making this book, in my opinion, perfect for all ages.  The illustrated preamble is perfect for petite patriots; but then we get images of the signers, the story of the constitution, A call to action, information about the debate in Philadelphia, how it was drafted, individual rights (which you’re never to young to learn), along with the complete Constitution of the United States.

The Star-Spangled Banner (Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1973) let’s just start by saying this book again, is gorgeously illustrated, the end papers show the flags of the American Revolution and the United States, as well as the government and armed forces flags.  This book covers the story of the star-spangled banner, War of 1812, Baltimore Attacked!, An Anthem Conceived in Battle – all about Francis Scott Key, and the Flag’s Journey it is a perfect introduction to the history of our national anthem.

These books are geared for  9 year olds, however, I think that these could be used in older grades as well.  The information in the second half of each book dives into the history which is written for an older audience.

Stay tuned for more Petite Patriots in the days and weeks to come.