Patriotic American Stories

Although intended for young readers, the story about Abraham Lincoln, written by Winston Churchill, in which a Rebel woman pleads the case of her spying cousin to Lincoln, demonstrates the qualities that made him one of our greatest presidents. It's not a common tale; every American would enjoy it. Each selection is prefaced with a poem, and we travel from "cherry tree stories," to Davy Crockett's last stand at the Alamo, and finally we meet Lee just before the Battle of Gettysburg. Languishing in the stilted language of the times, Patrick Cullen measure his cadence to produce a compendium that is entertaining and instructive, without being overwhelming. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

February 1, 2003
Gr 7 Up-Originally published in 1925, Patriotic American Stories features six lengthy pieces written in the 19th and 20th centuries. Authors such as Edward Everett Hale, Elbert Hubbard, and Nina Moore Tiffany present stories about Davy Crockett, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Robert E. Lee. Interspersed between selections such as "A Man without a Country" and "A Message to Garcia" are patriotic poems by Walt Whitman, Julia Ward Howe, and others. Patrick Cullen's narration is crisp and clear, but the language is sometimes arcane. Neither the case nor the CDs show the running time of each piece or their track location. The case is sturdy and the artwork points to the old fashioned values expressed by the selections. This recording may be of interest to teachers who wish to show how patriotic viewpoints were expressed in bygone days, but the difficulty in locating specific passages makes it hard to use. Despite the well-done narration and some classic selections, this recording's limitations make it less useful in school library collections. Public libraries seeking some lesser-known patriotic stories may want to add it to large audiobook collections.-Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library. Rocky Hill, CT

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.