Older girls read several books taking off from the Little House series, telling more stories of Laura, her sister, her daughter, and even her grandmother. And Laura's Album, a scrapbook of mementos collected by William Anderson, is full of items that bring her to life.

Carol Greene's easy-reading biography features both original illustrations and photographs. Pioneer Girl by William Anderson does a good job of telling her life story and has beautiful illustrations on each spread. Though born in Wisconsin, Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in Missouri most of her adult life and did her writing there, so books about her also qualified for the reading game. Muriel Weinstein's When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat is a fun introduction to that style of jazz singing. Among those that focus on his childhood and his early eagerness to play the trumpet are Alan Schroeder's Satchmo's Blues and Roxane Orgill's If I Only Had a Horn, both vividly illustrated. For instance, Louis Armstrong, who was from New Orleans, was the popular subject of several books. The many children who took part were enthusiastic and read widely.īiographies of notable figures from these four states were included in the game. We covered the four states that had not been included in earlier years: Florida and Louisiana-which had not been included with the South because they have their own distinctive cultures-and Arkansas and Missouri. Four Final States by Kathie Johnson First Books Four Final StatesĪs I have done for the past seven years, I held a reading game last summer in conjunction with my children's library.

Radio Rescue by Lynne Barasch