Washington, D.C. from A-Z perfectly presents history to 6 and up

Do you know an elementary school reader (or older) that’s looking for a way to learn more about Washington, D.C.? Granted, that is a massive age range. We’re certainly older than elementary school, yet are utterly fascinated by Washington, D.C. from A-Z.  This book has dozens upon dozens of facts about Washington, D.C. that are presented in short paragraphs or a couple sentences. They’re complimented with realistically drawn pencil illustrations in a beautiful or in an over the top manner that really drives home what the text is teaching. The book says that it’s intended for ages 6-10, and while that’s true, it also serves as a jumping off point for more research for those older readers.

A great example is that we’re planning a trip to Washington, D.C. and have been re-reading this to our 7 year-old. I found out that members of our extended family wanted to visit the statue of Albert Einstein. A. I didn’t know that there was a huge, five times life statue of him, but that. B. If you rub his nose you’re supposed to get smarter. Granted, part of that increased intelligence could be trying to successfully navigate the bronze statue up to his nose. Three points of contact does the trick nine out of ten times.

Most of the letters have a couple of facts associated with it. One of the notable exceptions is S and S is for Smithsonian. In 1829, James Smithsonian, an Englishman left half a million dollars to the city of Washington. His will, specifically stated that the money be used to increase the knowledge of men. 190 years later and the Smithsonian is one of the largest and most well known museums in the world.

It’s impossible to read Washington, D.C from A-Z without walking away with some tidbit of information. Some of those kibbles will root out and motivate people to read more about them. If you’re like our 7 year-old, then it’ll inspire a base amount of immediate curiosity-with some cool illustrations about this place that your family is going.  

This is also one of those great books to read when you visit an elementary school. Just bring the book and ask the class to provide you with a letter and then you read facts about that letter as it pertains to Washington, D.C. That’s one of our favorite activities to do when we’re the mystery reader and if you time this as to when they’re learning about our nation’s capital it’s win/win.