Did it all start with a snowball fight? And other questions about the American Revolution

This entry in the Good Question! series tackles commonly repeated facts and folklore regarding the American Revolution in a child-friendly, inquiry-based style. The Revolution is a topic replete with legends and pop history, and many myths are dispelled throughout, including the notion that all American colonists were patriots and that the Boston Massacre was caused by a rowdy group of boys with snowballs. Other topics will capture students' curiosity, including the origins of the tune Yankee Doodle and the fact that it really only took minutemen a moment to muster on the battlefield. Each topic, presented chronologically and approximately one page in length, is introduced as a question and answered in age-appropriate text with full-color illustrations. A basic time line of the American Revolution is offered in the appendix to clarify many of the events described in the main text. As the questions discussed here are likely to pop up during lessons, this book serves as an excellent resource for both the classroom and school media center.--Anderson, Erin Copyright 2010 Booklist

Gr 2-4-This book doesn't cover any new ground about the Revolution, but the information is incredibly well presented. Starting with the Boston Massacre (the snowball fight in question) and ending with the Treaty of Paris, the facts are related in a question-and-answer format, in an arrangement that's more topical than chronological (though there is a mostly perfunctory time line at the end). Each spread has one or two questions and answers on one side and a captioned, colorful full-page painting or cartoon on the other. Each section is short enough to keep reluctant readers engaged, but at 32 pages, only half of which have text, the book's brevity is a liability. Snowball Fight would best serve as additional material, specifically for a group of reluctant or delayed readers.-Rebecca Dash Donsky, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Much of the essential history of the American Revolution is conveyed briefly through 18 questions and answers. "Did it all start with a snowball fight?" "Were Yankee Doodles really dandy?" "How did the underdog Patriots come out on top?" "Who joined the Continental army and why did they look so scruffy?" The same enticing question-and-answer format employed in Carson's previous series entry, What Sank the World's Biggest Ship? (2012), is used here. Each question is followed by a page or so of information answering the question, though some answers are more thorough than others, and the writing is often choppy. Backmatter includes a timeline, but readers will have to search online for the bibliography and suggestions for further reading. This volume doesn't quite live up to the promising start to the series, as copy-editing oversights mar the text, leaving in distracting errors of spelling, punctuation and capitalization. Still, the format works well to impart lots of information to young readers, and Hunt's paintings add drama. The final question--"Were the shots fired at Lexington and Concord heard round the world'?"--offers a hint at the significance of the American Revolution by linking it to later events, such as the French Revolution and the women's rights and civil rights movements. An entertaining though superficial introduction to the American Revolution. (Nonfiction. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.