Hats off for the Fourth of July!
by Harriet Ziefert
(Check Catalog)

Follow this small town parade to fun, with music, cowboys on horseback, the fire engines, and when the parade is finished, a surprise spectacle in the sky.

Spectators wait to see what will come next as the watch the town's Fourth of July parade.

Horn Book Guide Reviews 2000 Fall

Ziefert's uneven rhyming text echoes the rhythm of a Fourth of July parade. ""Music and drum. . .music and drum. / Who will be the next to come?"" The parade's progress creates a good momentum, and a sky-writing plane provides a large-scale ending. The homely, often misshapen figures in the bright illustrations sometimes extend off the page, which adds to the book's exuberant spirit. Copyright 2000 Horn Book Guide Reviews

Susan Garland, Maynard Public Library,

PreS-Gr 1-Ziefert shows how the townspeople of Chatham, MA, celebrate our nation's birthday while Miller's striking illustrations richly enhance the small-town ambience. Short sentences, repetition, and rhyme create enough anticipation to keep the pages turning as readers follow the parade as it travels its route. Both text and art create a sense of movement across the double-page spreads. Endpapers introduce a day in the life of the charming Cape Cod town's Main Street, beginning with a plane trailing a banner advertising the big event and concluding with fireworks ablaze over a now-darkened landscape. There's plenty to see, and the text has the steady beat of a parade drummer.-Susan Garland, Maynard Public Library, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.