I DID It with My Hatchet

School Library Journal

K - Gr 3-- As with the others in his series of profiles of historic personages, Quackenbush presents a brief and entertaining look at the life of George Washington. Told in picture-book format and loaded with facts, he peppers the narrative with numerous famous and little-known anecdotes, showing the human side of this larger-than-life figure. Full-page pen-and-ink illustrations highlighted with blue and gray washes show Washington through the years. The text is further broken up by a trio of fife-and-drum corpsmen sitting around a campfire or table gossiping about George in cartoon style balloons. Quackenbush uses this device to present facts, debunk many popular myths, and infuse the telling with his signature brand of humor. (Unfortunately, the year he was sworn into his second term of office is incorrect). For a story for this age group, Jean Fritz' George Washington's Breakfast (Coward, 1969) remains a better choice, and in terms of factual information, tryDavid Adler's A Picture Book of George Washington (Holiday, 1989). An additional purchase.-- Luann Toth, ``School Library Journal''