The Fragile Flag

by Jane Langton and Erik Blegvad

Book Overview

Everything depends on them.... When Georgie Hall decides to walk from Concord, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., with a letter to the President and an old flag capable of producing magical visions,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064403114
• ISBN13: 9780064403115
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: HarperTrophy
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

A great story that works on many levels

Twenty years after it was first published, "The Fragile Flag" is still an entertaining story for children and adults alike. Of course, Jane Langton's clever satire works best for people who remember the 1980s. But sophisticated young readers should be able to decode the allegory even today. The author has done a fine job capturing the childish earnestness of the mid-1980s disarmament movement, portraying it here as a literal band of children marching to Washington to protest deployment of the "Peace Missile," a sort of combination of two of the movement's bêtes noire, the "Peacekeeper" ICBM and the Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars." Singing "We Shall Overcome," no less, the children march south to face down a scheming, hyper-patriotic President. Few writers for young adults, in my experience, have so clearly revealed the Left's essential view of America, not as rational adults capable of debating policy on its merits, but rather as "a mighty swarm of children" (p. 264). Having them base their beliefs on fuzzy emotionalism and (drug-induced?) visions of all the people and animals going up in a ball of fire is just one example of the precision of her satire. Of course, this book isn't just a simple allegory. Its elements of fantasy make it especially entertaining. In the real world, could a march like the Peace Pilgrimage have made it two blocks without the harpies from Child Protective Services descending on it? Would any sensible parent allow pre-teens to undertake an epic like this, not only unsupervised, but in the company of an infant? (That infant, by the way, is one of Langton's true gems. Not only does his name, Carrington, imply that even in his infancy he is "caring [a] ton" about the future of the earth, but it is also a clear dig at the fictional family from the TV series "Dynasty," a Reagan-era exemplar of the materialistic super-rich. Even Blake and Krystle, she seems to be saying, can redeem themselves by being born again [!] with the faith of precocious babies.) In fact, the world of rational adults -- of grown-ups with telling names like Mrs. Brisket and Miss Prawn, suggestive again of man's continual cruelty to animals -- is rejected entirely, so complete is the author's allegory. Who needs Ann Coulter's sledgehammer when we've got Jane Langton's rapier? If she'd had her Peace Pilgrimage continue all the way down to Nicaragua, the littlest Sandalistas might have might have succeeded in souring Gen X on the Left entirely. Oh, for what could have been!

an important book for parents to discuss with their children

I read this book many years ago and I still have a copy on my shelf. I think all parents who have strong feelings about nuclear disarmament should read this to their children and use it as a jumping off point to discuss nuclear weapons, war, and the impact that softspoken leaders like Mahama Ghandi and little Georgie (the book's main character) can have when our nations' leaders let fear prevail over morality. I also believe it reminds those who seek to use the flag as a symbol of blind patriotism and allegiance to American military actions that pacifists can be patriots, too. There is so much to carry away from this simple, but elegantly written book that an elementary or junior high school student can understand and appreciate... it certainly speaks to many of the issues that are being debated in the current political climate.

GREAT!

I just got this book out of the library, and it was GREAT! I thought it looked dumb, but when I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading. Georgie leads the march and they walk to washington, DC. Preisident Toby isn't real, but the author makes him sound so real! My favorite characthers are Georgie and Weezie. To bad this book is out of print.

Still sticks in my head after 15 years!

I read this book when I was a kid! And it still sticks with me after all these years. All I remember is this chick walks to washington dc. Pretty cool though. I'd buy it if I were you. Too bad it's out of print.

Inspirational

'The Fragile Flag' is, without question, the best book I have ever read. The well potrayed main character is a young and vulnerable girl named Georgie. When she finds out the President is planning on launching a bomb that can destroy the entire world, she takes it upon herself to walk from her home in Concord, Mass to the White House with only the company of her brother and sister. No one thought that she could make it. No one believed she'd be joined by 16,000 other children. And no one dreamed that a