What was...?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc
Pub. Date
[2013]
Language
English
Description
""Remember the Alamo!" is still a rallying cry more than 175 years after the siege in Texas, where a small band of men held off about two thousand soldiers of the Mexican Army for twelve days. The Alamo was a crucial turning point in the Texas Revolution, and led to the creation of the Republic of Texas. With 80 black-and-white illustrations throughout and a sixteen-page black-and-white photo insert, young readers will relive this famous moment in...
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of the Penguin Group
Pub. Date
[2013]
Language
English
Description
Describes how the Pilgrims at Plymouth shared a three-day feast with their Native American neighbors after their first harvest in 1621, establishing a tradition that would become a national holiday.
6)
What was the Gold Rush?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap
Pub. Date
[2013]
Language
English
Description
Describes the 1963 March on Washington, helmed by Martin Luther King, Jr., where over two hundred thousand people gathered to demand equal rights for all races, and explains why this event is still important in American history today.
8)
What was the underground railroad?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
"Before 1914, traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast meant going by land across the entire United States. To go by sea involved a long journey around South America and north along the Pacific Coast. But then, in a dangerous and amazing feat of engineering, a 48-mile-long channel was dug through Panama, creating the worlds most famous shortcut: the Panama Canal!"--Amazon.com.
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Pub. Date
[2014]
Language
English
Description
Describes the history of the Statue of Liberty, including its origins as a gift from France and its construction, and explores the landmark's enduring symbolism of freedom, democracy, and friendship.
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Pub. Date
[2014]
Language
English
Description
Describes the history of Ellis Island, a gateway for many immigrants coming to the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and details the restoration of the landmark and its reopening as a museum.
12)
What was Pompeii?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Pub. Date
[2014]
Language
English
Description
Describes the history of the Hindenburg airship and its fateful flight from Germany to the United States in 1937, when it burst into flames upon arrival, and details the decline of the use of airships for commercial transportation.
15)
What is the Super Bowl?
Author
16)
What is the World Series?
Author
17) What was D-Day?
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap
Pub. Date
[2015]
Language
English
Description
"In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, an armada of 7,000 ships carrying 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Nazi-occupied France. Up until then the Allied forces had suffered serious defeats, yet D-Day, as the invasion was called, spelled the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany and the Third Reich. Readers will dive into the heart of the action and discover how it was planned and carried out and how it overwhelmed the Germans who...
18)
What was Hurricane Katrina?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, An Imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2015]
Language
English
Description
"On October 29, 1929, life in the United States took a turn for the worst. The stock market the system that controls money in America plunged to a record low. But this event was only the beginning of many bad years to come. By the early 1930s, one out of three people was not working. People lost their jobs, their houses, or both and ended up in shantytowns called Hoovervilles named for the president at the time of the crash. By 1933, many banks had...
20)
What were the Salem Witch Trials?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"Step back in time to the birth of America and meet the real-life rebels who made this country free! On a hot summer day near Philadelphia in 1776, Thomas Jefferson sat at his desk and wrote furiously until early the next morning. He was drafting the Declaration of Independence, a document that would sever this country's ties with Britain and announce a new nation--The United States of America. Colonists were willing to risk their lives for freedom,...
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"Did the Great Chicago Fire really start after a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn? Find out the truth in this addition to the What Was? series. On Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire started on the south side of Chicago. A long drought made the neighborhood go up in flames. And practically everything that could go wrong did. Firemen first went to the wrong location. Fierce winds helped the blaze jump the Chicago River twice. The Chicago Waterworks...
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Formats
Description
"In this addition to the What Was? series, kids will experience what it was like to be in San Francisco in 1906 when the ground buckled in a major, catastrophic earthquake. One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake--one that registered 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Not only was there major damage from the quake itself but broken gas lines sparked a fire that ravaged the city for days. More than...
25)
What was Woodstock?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"Discover the true story of the Twin Towers--how they came to be the tallest buildings in the world and why they were destroyed. When the Twin Towers were built in 1973, they were billed as an architectural wonder. At 1,368 feet, they clocked in as the tallest buildings in the world and changed the New York City skyline dramatically. Offices and corporations moved into the towers--also known as the World Trade Center--and the buildings were seen as...
27)
What are the ten commandments?
Author
28)
What is rock and roll?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Description
"A mesmerizing overview of the world as it was when glaciers covered the earth and long-extinct creatures like the woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats battled to survive. Go back 20,000 years ago to a time of much colder global temperatures when glaciers and extensive sheets of ice covered much of our planet. As these sheets traveled, they caused enormous changes in the Earth's landscape and climate, leading to the evolution of creatures such as...
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
"We the people at Who HQ bring readers the full story--arguments and all--of how the US Constitution came into being. Signed on September 17, 1787--four years after the American War for Independence--the Constitution laid out the supreme law of the United States of America. Today it's easy for us to take this blueprint of our government for granted. But the Framers--fifty-five men from almost all of the original 13 states--argued fiercely for many...
33)
What is the women's rights movement?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
©2018
Language
English
Description
"For more than 100 years, people have been captivated by the disastrous sinking of the Titanic that claimed over 1,500 lives. Now young readers can find out why the great ship went down and how it was discovered seventy-five years later. At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, the largest passenger steamship of this time, met its catastrophic end after crashing into an iceberg. Of the 2,240 passengers and crew onboard, only...
36)
What were the roaring twenties?
Author
37) What is NASA?
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop, Penguin Young Readers Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Pub. Date
[2019]
Language
English
Description
"Find out all about NASA in this out-of-this-world addition to the What Was? series. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, began in 1958. With its creation, the United States hoped to ensure it won the space race against the Soviet Union. Author Sarah Fabiny describes the origins of NASA, the launching of the Apollo program that landed the first human on the moon, and the many missions and discoveries that have...
39)
What was Stonewall?
Author
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
"A thoughtful and age-appropriate introduction to an unimaginable event--the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a genocide on a scale never before seen, with as many as twelve million people killed in Nazi death camps--six million of them Jews. Gail Herman traces the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, whose rabid anti-Semitism led first to humiliating anti-Jewish laws, then to ghettos all over Eastern Europe, and ultimately to the Final Solution. She presents...
41)
What was the Vietnam War?
Author
42)
What are the Paralympic Games?
Author
43)
What is a presidential election?
Author
44) What is LEGO?
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
"The LEGO toy company was founded in 1934 by a Danish carpenter who loved making wooden pull toys. From its humble beginnings, the company has lived up to its name--which comes from the Danish phrase meaning to always "play well"--encouraging children to use their imagination and build whatever they can dream up. In this book, author Jim O'Connor describes how a simple concept--small plastic bricks that snap together--morphed into a cultural phenomenon"--...
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
"Even though slavery had ended in the 1860s, African Americans were still suffering under the weight of segregation a hundred years later. They couldn't go to the same schools, eat at the same restaurants, or even use the same bathrooms as white people. But by the 1950s, black people refused to remain second-class citizens and were willing to risk their lives to make a change"--
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
"By August 1945, World War II was over in Europe, but the fighting continued between American forces and the Japanese, who were losing but determined to fight till the bitter end. And so it fell to a new president--Harry S. Truman--to make the fateful decision to drop two atomic bombs--one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki--and bring the war to rapid close. Now, even seventy years later, can anyone know if this was the right choice? In a thoughtful...
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
"Although fans the world over have been fascinated by the modern Summer Olympics since 1896, the Winter Olympics didn't officially begin until 1924. The event celebrates cold-weather sports, displaying the talents of skiers, ice skaters, hockey players, and, most recently, snowboarders. Like its summer counterpart, the Winter Games are dedicated to bringing together the world's top athletes to honor their talents and see who gets to stand on the medal...
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
"Explaining clearly and concisely what exactly Congress does, this book is peppered with fascinating stories, including the bloody beating in the Senate of a lawmaker in pre-Civil War days, the Watergate hearings, and Senator Joe McCarthy's shameful "witch hunt" of Communists. Kids may start considering a career in Congress themselves when they learn fun facts, such as the special "candy desk" in the Senate, and the fact that all lawmakers can bring...
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
"Travel back in time to the 1920s and 1930s to the sounds of jazz in nightclubs and the 24-hours-a-day bustle of the famous Black neighborhood of Harlem in uptown Manhattan. It was a dazzling time when there was an outpouring of the arts of African Americans--the poetry of Langston Hughes, the novels of Zora Neale Hurston, the sculptures of Augusta Savage, and that brand-new music called jazz as only Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong could play it....
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
"Castles may conjure up a romantic fairy tale world; however, in real life, during the Middle Ages, castles were fortresses, providing shelter and protection for the lord as well as for the peasants who lived on his land. For an army, a lord depended on young soldiers in armor called knights who spent years at the castle learning the skills of warfare"--
Author
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"Best-selling author, former executive editor of the New York Times, and self-confessed political junkie, Jill Abramson has written a detailed and fascinating book that explains how the highest court in the United States works, who gets to serve on it, which cases have had the greatest impact on the country, and why the US justice system is so vital to democracy"--