Betsy Ross

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

We may never know for certain if George Washington asked Betsy Ross to make the first American flag. Or if the seamstress suggested a rectangular banner with easier-to-cut five-pointed stars instead of the square banner with six-pointed stars he'd sketched. Robert Morris claims to have witnessed the event, however, and his account is the one author/artist Alexandra Wallner includes in her admirable young-readers' biography. The putative first-flag fashioner, thrice married and widowed, was what we, today, would call a successful small-businesswoman whose upholstery shop supported her families-no small accomplishment in Revolutionary times. Children should recognize her for that, if nothing else.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-Very much in the style, size, and format of David Adler's ``Picture Book Biographies'' (Holiday), which she and her husband illustrated, Wallner now goes solo to tell Betsy Ross's story. She weaves facts that are known about the woman's life into the straightforward narrative. Naive folk-art paintings suit the subject well. Engaging examples of 18th-century colonial American life-spinning wheels, fireplace cookery, quill pens, and candlesticks-and even a number of playful cats can be found on every page. The book concludes with directions for making a five-pointed star. An author's note addresses some of the conflicting claims to the flag's origins. An appealing picture of American history, an easy-to-read biography, and an accessible curricular piece for Flag Day.-Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY