Our Liberty Bell - Hardcover

Henry Jonas Magaziner is a contributor for Holiday House Inc. titles including: "Our Liberty Bell."

*Starred Review* This attractive book brings the history of the Liberty Bell alive for young readers. The original bell, imported from England in 1752, made a dull sound and immediately cracked. Recast twice at an American foundry, the bell rang to announce one important event after another: the end of the French and Indian War; the Boston Tea Party; the battle at Lexington; the signing of the Declaration of Independence; the end of the Revolutionary War; and the death of George Washington, among others. Even after the bell cracked in 1843, it served as an important national symbol, traveling across the U.S. in the late 1800s to help reunify the country. In different periods, abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights leaders adopted the Liberty Bell as their symbol. Students tend to learn and subsequently categorize historical periods as separate "units," but here Magaziner wisely creates an overall sense of unity through history. Written with clarity and verve, this uses the central image of the bell to tie together the events it heralded and the causes it came to represent. O'Brien's imaginative and sometimes witty ink drawings illustrate with finesse. Glossary appended. Phelan, Carolyn