Book Review: Only in America Activity Book

Summer in the United States is a common time for road trips, and it’s a great time for activities for kids to do in the car and learning about states you might be visiting on your travels.

Only in America Activity Book by Claire Saunders and Heather Alexander focuses on the weireder side of the states, along with activities to make the car or plane ride a little more fun.

The book includes a fruit sudoku game board; fun weather facts; info about some of the biggest, longest, tallest and deepest things in America; a space to make up your own wacky laws; a sports-themed crossword puzzle; cryptid code breaking (and make your own); a math game; facts about weird museums in America; a four-leaf-clover hunt; maze; dino matching; a place to draw something you’d put in a time capsule; a word search with funny place names; a quiz to find words in other words; a diamond hunt; facts about funky festivals (like an annual Jell-o fight); some fun animals, state symbols, largest balls of things, a morbid maze, a number code and a food guessing game.

You’ll also find some fun “would you rather” questions everyone in the car can answer, like would your rather drink pickle juice at Picklefest in Atkins, Ark., or be fed baby food by your blindfolded partner at the National Baby Food Festival in Fremont, Mich.?

As you work through the book you’ll find at least one fun fact for every state, and pass some time on your trip as well.

The answers to any puzzles with correct answers can be found in the back of the book, but lots of these activities are open ended so you can do them again and again or different kids can come up with their own answers.

About the book: 32 pages, paperback, published 2022 by Wide Eyed Editions, suggested retail price $12.99.

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Road Trip Printables

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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