Texas Facts and Symbols

This look at "Texas Facts and Symbols," which is aimed at young readers age 4-8, covers a lot more than the basics. There is a lot of information here, especially about the symbols of the Lone Star State. The basic format in The States and Their Symbols series is that each two-page spread constitutes a "chapter." There is a photograph (or map) on the left and several paragraphs of informative text on the right. The very first chapter is devoted to Fast Facts, where young students learn a little about things like Texas' largest city, population, manufactured goods, and so forth. Then the rest of Emily McAuliffe's slim volume is devoted to looking at the various state symbols of Texas. We begin with how the state got its name and nickname, and then learn about the state seal and motto, and the state capitol and flag. Then McAuliffe focuses on the state bird (mockingbird), state tree (pecan), state flower (bluebonnet), and state mammals (in addition to the longhorn bull on the front cover as the big state mammal there is also the armadillo as the small state mammal and the Mexican free-tailed bat as the state flying mammal). That last chapter stands out because in each of these books there is almost always something distinctive when it comes to what a state selects as a symbol. The final chapter brings together More State Symbols, which for Texas are the state dish, fruit, insect, plant, and sport (rodeo and not high school football, surprisingly enough). The back of the book lists three Places to Visit in Texas (e.g., the Alamo), a brief list of Words to Know (e.g., "capital" versus "capitol"), and places where young readers can go to Read More about Texas. There are also a couple of Useful Addresses and Internet Sites that can be contacted for even more additional information. There are only six titles listed for The States and Their Symbols series on the back of this book, but that was because Texas was part of the first set of books in the series, along with big states California, Florida, Illinois and New York, with Colorado thrown into the mix for good measure. However, I can report that the series does include all fifty states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. These books are only 24-pages long, but they do provide more details about state symbols than students will find in most geography books.