Search results for ""author denise kiernan""

This young readers adaptation of the New York Times bestselling We Gather Together shares the true story of how Thanksgving became a national holiday and the way gratitude is looked at in AmericaFiction: Thanksgiving is an American holiday that began when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and met the Indigenous tribes already living there. Fact: Thanksgiving celebrations existed before the United States of America and were celebrated in other countries as well.Fiction: American Thanksgiving was always on the fourth Thursday in November.Fact: Thanksgiving’s day, date, and even its existence was at the discretion of the president and other leaders until the date was officially established by Congress and signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.Fiction: George Washington is the person who decided we should celebrate Thanksgiving as a nation at the same time each year.Fact: Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor and author, petitioned five presidents until she convinced Abraham Lincoln to declare a national day of Thanksgiving in November of 1863, starting an annual tradition continuing to this day.There is much fiction surrounding the creation of Thanksgiving in America. Denise Kiernan debunks myths, provides facts, and explains how and why Thanksgiving evolved in the United States the way it did—and what gratitude means to society.This young readers adaptation of Kiernan’s We Gather Together should be required reading in every school in America today.

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Unfold Book Jacket for a Full-Color Reproduction of the U.S. Constitution With their book Signing Their Lives Away, Denise Kiernan and Joseph D Agnese introduced readers to the 56 statesmen (and occasional scoundrels!) who signed the Declaration of Independence. Now they ve turned their attention to the 39 men who met in the summer of 1787 and put their names to the U.S. Constitution. Signing Their Rights Away chronicles a moment in American history when our elected officials knew how to compromise and put aside personal gain for the greater good of the nation. These men were just as quirky and flawed as the elected officials we have today: Hugh Williamson believed in aliens, Robert Morris went to prison, Jonathan Dayton stole $18,000 from Congress, and Thomas Mifflin was ruined by alcohol. Yet somehow these imperfect men managed to craft the world s most perfect Constitution. With 39 mini-biographies and a reversible dust jacket that unfolds into a poster of the original document, Signing Their Rights Away offers an entertaining and enlightening narrative for history buffs of all ages.

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All across the world, among hundreds of cultures and across centuries, people have come together to give thanks. But Americans didn’t have an official Thanksgiving holiday until the 1800s. The holiday Americans know today exists because of a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale, a spirited letter-writing campaign, a sympathetic president, and a civil war.

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A pocket-sized gift book packed with patriotic facts for ordinary Americans and history buffs alike. This handbook is the perfect patriotic present for any engaged United States citizen. Who played the first game of baseball? What’s a bicameral congress? Where did Mount Rushmore come from? Who is Geronimo and why do we yell his name when we jump? Plus:• All about the Declaration of Independence• Ten Books Every American Should Read• Assassination Attempts on U.S. Presidents• The History of the Statue of Liberty• How to Bake the Perfect Apple Pie

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In the summer of 1776, fifty-six men risked their lives and livelihood to defy King George III and sign the Declaration of Independence yet how many of them do we actually remember? Signing Their Lives Away introduces readers to the eclectic group of statesmen, soldiers, slaveholders, and scoundrels who signed this historic document and the many strange fates that awaited them. Some prospered and rose to the highest levels of United States government, while others had their homes and farms seized by British soldiers. Signer George Wythe was poisoned by his nephew; Button Gwinnett was killed in a duel; Robert Morris went to prison; Thomas Lynch was lost at sea; and of course Sam Adams achieved fame as a patriot/brewer. Complete with portraits of the signers as well as a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, Signing Their Lives Away provides an entertaining and enlightening narrative for history buffs of all ages.

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