Journey Around Washington D.C. from A to Z

The best way to see our nation's capitol is up close and personal. Not possible? The second way is through an excellent armchair guide. "Journey Around Washington D.C. from A to Z" is such a book. Martha Day Zschock, who has created several in this series, looks at the basic facts of a city through her delightful illustrations. First, she begins with a broad, overview map of Washington, D.C.--no frills, then "A" page is devoted to "America's anthem awakens awe." The illustration is the flag that actually flew over Fort McHenry, when Francis Scott Key was inspired to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." The inset material for "A" includes the mascot for the football team of Washington. "B" says "Boats paddle by Basin blossoms." In 1912 Japan gave hundreds of cherry trees which were planted in the basin along Thomas Jefferson's memorial building. "C" says "Congress convenes in Capitol chambers" and depicts the front of the Capitol and an inset of the ceiling of the Rotunda. Another note mentions the Library of Congress. "Ornaments of nature occupy D.C." for "O" and shows a close up of iris blooms and an inset shows one slice of the children's garden in the U.S. Botanic Garden and the National Arboretum. V is for "Veterans' memorials" and shows the long ribbon of glossy wall that is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial designed by Maya Ying Lin. Over 58,000 names are inscribed on the wall to signify their deaths. "Z" is for zip codes and the U.S. Postal Service, begun in 1753, by Benjamin Franklin, who finalized the service. His statue greets visitors to the National Postal Museum. That's a sampling of the broad range of topics included in this journey. Other topics include the Kennedy Center, Abraham Lincoln's statue, the National Air and Space Museum, the Metro system, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, fresh food markets, the White House, and Rock Creek Park, first of our national parks. There you are--if you would like your child familiar with our nation's capitol, this fine book is a great introduction. Just "Journey Around Washington D.C. from A to Z." For ages 4-8, but I think 6-12 is a better interest level. Other titles in the series include: Journey Around Cape Cod and the Islands from A to Z (Journey Series) Journey Around Chicago From A To Z (Journey Series) Journey Around San Francisco from A to Z (Journey Series)

This book is 1 of 5 in a series on different U.S. cities. I was really impressed with the author/illustrator's artwork and love all the neat little details that she manages to fit on each page (so much that I met her at a book signing near DC so she could autograph it!). It is also set up in a way that even my 2 year old can enjoy the shorter, brief insets on each page, my 7 year old can enjoy and learn from the more detailed descriptions at the bottom, and even I really enjoy the beautiful artwork and have learned new things from it myself. She captures some truly interesting highlights from each of the cities in this series (others are Cape Cod, Boston, New York, San Francisco). It is a great book that I would recommend for ANY age!