Independence Day

I picked up four books from the library to read to K. about the 4th of July.

• Independence Day by Helen Frost
• Independence Day by Ann Heinrichs
• Independence Day by Robin Nelson
• The Declaration of Independence by Melinda Lilly

I like parts of each one, but one skipped over the Revolutionary War and another talked more about how we celebrate today, and . . .

So I took the parts of each one that I liked, put it in my own words, and wrote my own book. I added clip art and scanned pictures from the books so it really looks pretty good. Here is the text from the book. If you like it, you can make your own!

We celebrate Independence Day every year to remember how the United States of American became a free country. Independence Day is on the 4th of July. Independence Day is the birthday of America. It is the day we decided to become a free country. Today the United States has 50 states, but the country used to be much smaller. It began with only 13 states. But before they were states, they were called colonies. The 13 colonies belonged to Great Britain. Great Britain is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. King George III was the leader of Great Britain. He made laws for the 13 American colonies. Many people in America thought the laws were unfair. They decided Great Britain should not rule America. The American colonists wanted to govern their own land. They colonies' leaders had a meeting called the Continental Congress. They talked about America being free. John Adams asked Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence says that all people are equal. They have the right to be free and to rule themselves. It says the colonies should be free states. When Jefferson was through writing he took the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress. Members of the congress liked what Jefferson wrote. They voted yes on July 4, 1776. The colonial leaders at the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. Great Britain did not want America to be free. They fought for six years, but in 1783 the colonists won the Revolutionary War and their freedom. Every year Americans celebrate their freedom on Independence Day. We display flags and decorate with red, white, and blue. Families and friends celebrate Independence Day. They have picnics at parks and homes. Many people eat hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, and apple pie. Communities celebrate Independence Day. They have parades during the day and firework displays at night.

I ended the book with a portion of the poem 'The Flag Goes By' by Henry Holcomb Bennett.