#7 Benny's Flag

Title: Benny's Flag
Author: Phyllis Krasilovsky
Illustrator: Jim Fowler
Publishing Company: Roberts Rinehart Publishers
Copyright Date: 2002
# of Pages: 30

Genre/Category: Picture Books

     I chose to read Benny's Flag because the cover was pretty and caught my eye. Benny's Flag is a true story about a young Aleut boy from Alaska who lives in a mission home. Benny is happy there, but he dreams of becoming a strong fisherman. Every night, he looks at the constellations and thinks. One day, the school Benny goes to tells the students that Alaska needs a flag since it is becoming one of the United States, and the students get to design it. Benny thinks and thinks about what to draw for his contest entry, and he finally decides on using the Big Dipper and the North Star on a field of blue. Benny wins the contest and gets to march at the head of a parade holding Alaska's new flag.

    The illustrations are amazing and really make you feel like you are staring at a night sky in Alaska. The illustrations make me think of oil paints. They do not have strict edges and lines, but rather run together to make gorgeous color blends. I also liked the way the illustrator made the children look. It is obvious that Benny is a young Aleut boy, and most of the children have the black hair and dark eyes like Benny does.

     This book could be used in a variety of ways, and I think it could be appropriate for a variety of ages depending on how it was used. I would say it would be a good book for children ages 4-9. Benny's Flag could be used in a history lesson when learning about the states and how they became a state. It could also be used when learning about the state flags. The book tells what each item on the flag symbolizes, and I believe it is important for children to understand that flags have meaning. This book could also be used when talking about constellations, since Benny points out several of them. Another way a teacher could use this in the classroom is as a geography lesson about the type of land Alaska is and how the weather there is. Teachers could even teach about the Alaskan culture since there are words such as parka and mukluks throughout the book.