Imogene's Last Stand

Imogene's Last Stand by Candace Fleming and Nancy Carpenter is a picture book intended for ages 4-8. The pictures are very vivid in a way that makes me feel like I am actually there. I like that the back of the cover page gives little tidbits about important things in American history. This would be a great book for a 1st or 2nd grade history lesson. It is very broad and brings up certain historical people and events throughout. It would be fun to call on students throughout the book to see if they could tell the class about different people or events that come up. The teacher could ask things like, "Can anyone tell me who Davy Crockett is?", because he is referenced in the book. I like that the quotes in the book are given differently throughout with expressions like, "cried", "snorted", "fumed", "sniffled", "begged", etc. This brings a lot of emotion into the book and gives her character a stubborn but brave personality. This book is a good way to show children how important history is because even someone their size cares a lot about it. The author used a clever approach to bringing in different people from history by making Imogene quote them each time something happened. A really good message that a teacher could give for this book would be to stand up for what you believe in and in order to create change, you have to fight. This could be a good introduction to having the children write a letter to the mayor about a local problem that they want changed.