STORIES OF EARLY AMERICA is intended to tell young children about the search for the New World; about Indians, Colonists, pioneers, the Found- ing Fathers, and others who helped create and develop our country.
First, the young reader is given a picture of life among the Indians before the white man came, in stories such as Fleet Foot, a Woodland Indian and In My Mother's House. Then comes the search for the New World, and in Don Diego Columbus, Page we meet Columbus' son. He is an appealing little boy who, though longing to accompany his father on the great voyage, must stay behind as a page at the Spanish Court.
The Pilgrim Colony is established and we read of the first Thanksgiving, which the Pilgrims and their Indian friends shared.
In the spring of 1776, a new nation was born. The First Fourth of July tells of the Founders– Jefferson, Adams, Franklin– taking the first deliberate steps toward independence. War comes, and we have the exciting stories of the ride of Paul Revere, the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, and General George Washington's capture of the Hessians and his escape from the British trap, in The Old Fox Retreats.
In the stories about the pioneers, we meet Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and Kit Carson– first as young men learning to hunt and scout. Later, we read how this knowledge and resourcefulness saved Daniel Boone's life and the life of his daughter Jemima.
We see what life was like when Abraham Lincoln campaigned for President and a little girl thought he would be elected if he wore a beard. All boys and girls will understand Abe Lincoln, years old, in What the Moon Saw. What child has not asked the moon, "What do you see?"
Children will discover that the history of America is an exciting story. Of absorbing interest, too, are the stories and poems of everyday life: Johnny invites his teacher to dinner and Kate spends her first night away from home. All are about children who lived a long time ago, but are meaningful to children today because their feelings and concerns are much the same.
–MARY K. REELY (Introduction)
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