Vermont

Naming the original thirteen colonies is not as difficult as naming the twelve apostles, but not as easy as listing the seven dwarves or Santa's reindeer. When you name the thirteen colonies you probably proceed from north to south, beginning with Maine and ending with Georgia. The only problem is that Maine was not one of the original colonies (it was considered part of Massachusetts). The other state that was not a colony is Vermont, which was a disputed area claimed by both New York and New Hampshire. The area was part of the New Hampshire Land Grants on 1749, but in 1770 the king of England rules the land officially belonged to New York, at which point Ethan Allen and the 200 man militia known as the Green Mountain Boys threw out the "Yorkers" and took over the region by force and established a small republic. Eventually Vermont would become the first state to join the original thirteen and the rest is history, and is covered by Jan M. Czech in Chapter Three. The brief opening chapter of this From Sea to Shining Sea, Second Series volume introduces young readers to the Green Mountain state. Czech asks "What comes to mind when you think of Vermont?" and in addition to the Green Mountain Boys there is Ben and Jerry's Ice-Cream and "leaf peepers." Chapter Two, The Land of Vermont, divides the state into six distinct land regions: the Champlain Valley, the Northeast Kingdom, the Vermont Piedmont, the Vermont Valley, the Taconic Range, and the Green Mountains. The chapter also looks at the Rivers and Lakes, and Climate, thereby covering the basic geography of Vermont. Chapter Three, Vermont Through History, covers the details on how the state went from being a land grant and a republic to a state, covering how major events in American history from the Civil War to the Great Depression and World War II affected its people. Chapter Four, Governing Vermont, briefly looks at the three branches of government, and devotes most of its time to giving us a tour of the capital city of Montpelier. A map of downtown Montpelier shows you the relative location of major sites, so that you can get from the Vermont State House to Observation Tower in Hubbard Park. The final chapter looks at The People and Places of Vermont, including the jobs in manufacturing, tourism and agriculture that dominate the economy. The final thing Czech does is takes us on a tour of Vermont, so you can get an idea of what there is to visit in each section of the state. This is also the chapter where you get the book's recipe, which is for Sugar on Snow (to wit, maple syrup on clean, fluffy, freshly fallen snow; a Vermont tradition is to take a bite of the sugar on snow and then a bite of a dill pickle...). Throughout the book you will find tidbits of information in little sidebars devoted to Famous Firsts (first postage stamp used in the U.S. was made in Brattleboro), Who's Who in Vermont? (Perry Merrill, patron saint o the ski industry), and lots of Extra! Extra! Ent