A Picture Book of Davy Crockett

I got this book for my 5 year old son because he was becoming interested in Davy Crockett. This is a good brief history book, but not very exciting reading for a preschooler. He likes to read it every once in a while, but it's not something he wants to read over and over.

As a primary grade teacher in Tennessee, I was rather surprised to learn that few of my students knew about Davy Crockett. And we live near the Crockett Tavern and 45 minutes from his birthplace. We were exploring our Appalachian hertiage and I introduced 17 kids to the king of the wild frontier. They were mesmerized. This book reads easily and follows a narrative format, so it's a great read aloud. We followed it up with a viewing of the classic Disney series starring Fess Parker, and then compared the two heroes. We also determined that despite the song lyrics, he was not born on a mountaintop, but rather the foothills. While I have used it with kindergarten and first grade, this book would also work wonderfully with older students and provide opportunities to compare and contrast, discuss exaggeration, the hero myth, and American History.

In the recent theatrical film "The Alamo" we were told that Davy Crockett preferred to be called "David." One of the elements of that particular movie version of the battle is how in the end the real David Crockett has to die as the legendary and bigger than life Davy. While the title of David A. Adler's juvenile biography of Crockett is entitled "A Picture Book of Davy Crockett," Adler calls the subject "David" throughout this colorful and informative introduction to the American icon's life. Adler's point is that the real David Crockett was a great frontiersman just like the legendary Davy Crockett. Illustrated by John and Alexandra Wallner with attractive line-and-watercolor artwork this book starts with the legendary birth of Davy Crockett and then provides the historical details. The focus is on key events, such as being hired out to a Dutchman who taught David how to shoot a long rifle, serving as a scout in the Creek War, and being elected to several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young readers will learn as much about Crockett's two wives as they will about his falling out in Congress with President Andrew Jackson and his final days at the Alamo. Adler provides both of the conflicting accounts of Crockett's death at the Alamo without making a choice as to which is more likely to be true, which gives you an indication of the level of information the book provides (how the artwork erroneously suggests the mission of the Alamo had a roof from which defenders were fighting, when actually the roof was never completed until years after the battle in 1836). Many of the quotations attributed to Crockett in this book are taken from his autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of David Crockett," first published in 1834. The Crockett story ends with the publications of the "Davy Crockett Almanacs" that first appeared around the time of his death and which contained the useful information you would expect in an almanac plus a collection fo tall tales (e.g., Davy was born weighing over 200 pounds and had a pet bear named Death Hug). "A Picture Book of Davy Crockett" provides a solid introduction to his life for young readers who will find more of his history as well as the tale tales in lots of other books. This book is one in a series of two-dozen picture book biographies on famous persons by Adler (almost half of which are illustrated by the Wallners) from George Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr. and from Simon Bolivar to Florence Nightingale.