Hurray For The Fourth Of July

I meant to review this one last night, but an Independence Day full of sun and humidity must have erased the memory of checking it out from the library just a few evenings earlier.                  

THREE PROS

*Each page contains a historic children's verse that reconnects the current generation with the lingo of its forefathers (when they were juveniles)

*Describes July 4th pretty much the way you would want it to 

*The parade scenes mention political parties, which I believe you can never introduce your kids to too soon -- as long as it's an unbiased and balanced discussion   

THREE CONS 

*Becomes a taxing undertaking if you try and recite the primary text and the historic verses simultaneously (which I did the first time we read it) 

*The imagery is full of colors and action but is still the type of muted effort that your eyes either can't or don't want to focus on

*I wish a few more of the songs/quatrains were less random and more patriotic 

ONE DAD'S OPINION

I cannot stress to you just how close I was to Destroying this title after my first read-through.  It did not hold my son's attention at all and felt totally disjointed coming out of my mouth as I would go back and forth between the story and the musical interludes.  But once I parsed it into two separate books, I realized it actually has a nice appeal to it.  Check it out next June and you won't be disappointed!                              

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