This book is about a little elephant named Ellis who sets out on a quest to find out how America became the land of the free. Ellis spends his afternoon at the library reading books about Americas history and he travels through time and experiences many different historical events that had a great impact on shaping our nation today. The main idea of this book is to show young readers how America came to be the way that it is in a very kid friendly manner. ( )

This is a sing-songy colorful and brief timeline of the highlights of American history. The illustrations are wonderful and I love how Ellis features in all of them as well. The rhyming makes this book a wonderful read aloud choice. The timeline is really more of a highlight reel so this book does lend itself to being used in the lower grades. ( )

The book mentions many important events in American history. Young children may enjoy the illustrations and predictable rhyme scheme. ( )

I liked this book for two reasons. I really appreciated how this author was able to give an overview of some really important historical events in American history while also keeping reader’s attention through rhyme and fun illustrations. For example, Ellis the Elephant begins reading about the Boston Tea Party, “But the King didn’t listen, and passed a tax on tea. The colonists said, ‘We will not pay a fee!’ They jumped on the ships and made a real commotion. Then they threw the English tea right into the ocean.” This summary of the Boston Tea Party both hits the main complaints of the colonists, allowing the students to empathize with their cause, but also keeps a flowing beat, keeping the interest of the audience. Along with this, the book is accompanied with adorable pictures that place Ellis the Elephant in each historical moment. For The Boston Tea Party, Ellis is on the boats, along with the colonists, throwing tea overboard. On another page, he is experiencing the quest westward along with the pioneers. These illustrations allow readers to further their understanding of unique perspectives at each historical event. The main point of this book was to celebrate American history. ( )

"Sweet Land of Liberty" would be a great book to implement or tie into a lesson on Veteran's Day or maybe even on September 11th. This book focuses on rhyming which would appeal to the k-3 audience, while also discussing the timeline of American History. If students are unfamiliar with the history, this would be a brief introduction to a unit as well. A possible activity would be to pinpoint each location discussed in the book on a map of the United States. As a teacher, you could also bring up new terms such as patriotic, patriotism, or even discuss the personification of Ellis the Elephant. ( )