Imogene's Last Stand - Candace Fleming

Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009
$16.99
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Info and thumbnail sketches of each of the 14 quoters in this book

Kids haven't had to memorize much history in recent years. I held a jeopardy game in my classroom and found this out firsthand. They have no clue about famous quotes. Well, NO MORE! Imogene will introduce them!

Imogene lives in a tiny little town in New Hampshire (the state itself is in the middle of nowhere...I can say that....I'm from Maine and spent most of my childhood summers in New Hampshire) and they seem pretty uninterested in the world around them, particularly history. Imogene loves history. She has since she was tiny, and when she discovers the old building that is the hisorical society, she cleans and shuffles and displays and gets ready to open the building to the public. But nobody comes. (What boring town citizens!) Then Mayor Butz decides to sell the property to a shoelace family so that the town will be "put on the map." Imogene tries everything to spark some enthusiasm for retaining the historical old building, but to no avail....until she discovers a letter on an old piece of parchment from George Washington thanking the building owners for their terrific hospitality. Yup. George Washington slept there. Saved, just in the lick of time!

Not only does Imogene have great quotes, she knows who said them. We hear from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ("We are made by history"), John Paul Jones ("I have not yet begun to fight!") and even the famous chant of Vietnam War protesters ("Heck no, I won't go!"....wait a minute, was it really "heck".....?) Of course, a happy ending, sprinkled with all sorts of historical quotes and tidbits. Viva Imogene!

"Balderdash" - Teddy Roosevelt
"Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired, my heart is sick and sad." - Chief Joseph
"A great oak is only a little nut that held its ground." - Abraham Lincoln
.....are just a few more. Enjoy!

There are some other reviews for you to read out there in cyberspace:
Try Bri Meets Books or 100 Scope Notes, both great blogs.