Minnesota

by Judy L. Hasday

Book Overview

Put kids on the road to discovery with the series that brings the United States to life, state by exciting state. It's all here - the history and geography, the people and culture, plus colorful... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0516224786
• ISBN13: 9780516224787
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Children's Press(CT)
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.5" x 9.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 6

Customer Reviews

Taking a tour of Minnesota, the North Star State

I have to admit that I was surprised there was not a photograph of Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge in this look at "Minnesota" for the From Sea to Shining Sea (second) series, because it is the iconic image of the Zenith City. When Jessica Lange, who was born down the road in Cloquet, come up here to make "Far North" (1988), they managed to put the Aerial Lift Bridge in most of the shots so that it became something of a running joke in the film. It gets mentioned in this book, but no picture. In fact the photograph that accompanies Chapter One, Introducing the North Star State, shows a Minnesotan embracing the cold winter, which serves as a reminder that up here it is winter six months of the year, most of the 12,000 lakes get frozen, along with Lake Superior, which means there comes a time when the Aerial Lift Bridge no longer needs to be lifted. But then that is just our little corner of the North Star State. The second chapter is devoted to the geography of The Land of Minnesota, which covers how the melting of the glaciers resulted in four geographic regions: the Superior Upland, the Young Drift Plains, the Dissected Till Plains, and the Driftless Area (you have to love these names). Pay attention to the Rivers and Lakes section this time around because with the 6,564 rivers and the aforementioned 12,000 lakes, Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, which is more than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined. Then there is the great understatement in the Climate section where Hasday informs us that, "Minnesota gets very cold." This, I will admit, is true, and explains why this book has one of the longest sections on climate in the series (think of it as an apologia). Minnesota Through History is the subject of Chapter Three, where several pages are devoted to the Native American settlements that were supplanted by the arrival of the European fur trappers. Hasday covers Minnesota as a developing land, a territory, and then a state in 1858. The slavery issue and the Civil War are covered, as is the Dakota conflict that was happening at the same time. The impact of the Homestead Act and the logging and mining industries on Minnesota are explained. The final sections in the chapter are devoted to the two World Wars, and how the postwar period led to the modern times of today (ending with some rather kind words for former governor Jesse "the Body" Ventura). The fourth chapter talks about Governing Minnesota, although after explaining the three branches of state government, the rest of the chapter is devoted to a tour of Saint Paul, the one of the Twin Cities that is the state capital. The map of downtown shows where the Minnesota Children's Museum, Science Museum of Minnesota, and Minnesota History Center are located. The final chapter is about The People and Places of Minnesota, which goes into detail on where people came from (although talking only along Finnish people when you mention the Scandinavians in the state is treading