Question And Answer Encyclopedia: The USA

by Nicola Barber, Jason Hook

Young readers will find a vast amount of information in this book, made engrossing and accessible by the question and answer format and the lavish use of realistic illustration. The encyclopedia explores the many facets of the United States—the land, its people, their history, and their achievements. A wealth of fascinating facts, figures, stories and legends is contained in answers to questions such - Where do two million people see four presidents every year?
- Who made a fortune from software?
- What happened at the Little Bighorn?
- Who was Sacajawea?
- Why was Cy Young perfect in 1904?
- Who lived in Uncle Tom's Cabin?
- When did the Pilgrim Fathers found New Plymouth?
- What was Watergate?

Genres: American History, History

255 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's cool that the highest point is Mt. McKinley in Alaska and the lowest is Death Valley in California.

I found that a lot of opportunities were missed.
For the question "a Where can you see a phantom ship sailing across a volcano?" it answered Crater Lake was formed from a volcano and it has a lava made shaped like a ship under sail, except the picture didn't show the ship, just the crater. What a waste. I wanted to see what it looked like.

"Why did Marian Morrison change names?" They wrote that "He was in fact John Wayne, born in Winterset, Iowa, in 1907. He hanged his name, for obvious reasons, in the 1930s." I had to reread that because I was so confused. Why would you say it like that, like his real name was John when it wasn't? You should say he change his name to John Wayne and then stated specifically why, like he didn't like it, or Hollywood wanted him to change it or something concrete.

A question mentioned the Great White Throne which is a structure in a canyon and they didn't show it! 

"What do Esther, Spotted Tail, Robert and John have in common? They are all famous citizens of Wyoming, Utah, and California."'
I had to reread this one too. I checked to see what the common thread was. There was none. These are 4 people from 3 diff states doing 3 diff things....so, yeah, they don't have anything in common.

They wrote that Native Americans reclaimed Alcatraz for a time in 1968 without ever saying that they'd previously owned it. 

I've never heard that Oklahoma is called the Sooner State. For 50 yrs it was banned to white settlers and was set aside for Native Americans who chose not to fight white people; it was called Indian Territory. But the gov broke their agreement in 1889 and opened it to settlers. Many couldn't wait for the official date and moved in sooner than allowed. 

It's so cool that Oklahoma has the biggest range of dinosaur fossils in America and you can see footprints in dry creek beds.

It's neat that the first U.S. capital was New York. 

It's amazing that the eagle in the United States shield is from the Iroquois nation symbol. 

I was shocked to learn that it was thought there weren't any horses in North America before the Spanish in the 1550s but there's fossil evidence of horses long before European arrival. They disappeared at some time and were reintroduced by the Spanish.

I was disappointed that there really isn't a Sioux tribe. French explorers got this word from the Chippewa which actually means enemy, which is how the Chippewa described the Lakota. So they're really called Lakota, which means "where the people of peace dwell."

White settlers have the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes the title "Five civilized tribes" because of the similarities they had with European culture. They lived in planned villages, farmed and hunted, and some were wealthy enough to own slaves. Some later became Christians and adopted other aspects of settlers' lives. 

The Creeks worked together like one big family. They divided land into family plots, but everyone farmed together as equals, even the chief. Some of the harvest was stored in a special building for public occasions. 

I had recently attended a library program on the Mystery of the Lost Colony and learned a bit about Native American tribes in hat area at that time, so I remembered learning that another tribe is a mix of other tribes. The Seminole are also a mixed group, formed from the survivors of diff Florida tribes after the slave trade almost wiped them out. They were mostly Creek joined by runaway black slaves who avoided attempts to root them out of the swamps. 

Cherokee believe 7 is lucky. They hold seven ritual ceremonies: 6 took place annually and the 7th every 7 years. They had 7 "mother towns" which were originally the headquarters of the 7 clans. 

Utah is naked after the Utes. Oklahoma comes from "okla homma" which means "home of the red people."

People in the Southeast loved the stick and ball game, played with large teams of up to 200 men. French settlers thought the stick looked like a bishop's crosier so they called it La Crosse when they introduced it to Europe, so this is where lacrosse came from.

Pacific coast tribes demonstrated wealth by having potlatch ceremonies and giving gifts to their guests. There could be over 100 guests. The worth of a gift depended on the status of the guest. Hosts expected to get back the worth of their gifts by being invited to potlatches held by their guests. They were made illegal in the 1900s but still take place today. 

The Plains people had specially strengthened bows shortened to under 3 ft for easier use on horses when they hunted buffalo.

Around 1850 a valuable horse could be traded for 15 eagle feathers. The feathers were valuable because of their scarcity and religious importance. The colorful young eagle feathers took a long time to capture and were specially valuable. Prized feathers decorated headdresses and costumes.

At fixed times of the year tribes came together at special meeting places to trade. Nomadic people from the Plains with extra buffalo skins would trade them for produce from settled tribes that farmed. 

Plains tribes made scaffolding to keep the dead safe from wild animals. The Huron put bodies in coffins above the ground on poles for up to 12 years before burying the bones. Possessions like a warrior's headdress and feathers were kept close to the corpse. 

The Iroquois lived in longhouses with groups of up to 100. Partitions divided one family area from another but they sometimes shared a cooking fire. 

They made toothbrushes by using Porcupine hairs for bristles and a stick was cut into the right shape and frayed at the edges. They cut the tail of a porcupine and crafted it to make a hairbrush.

Dried buffalo sung was used for fuel to cook and stay warm inside a teepee. It produced very little smoke. 

Hopi use a curved stick like a boomerang to hunt, but it doesn't come back. The hunters gather in a large circle up to a mile wide and move forward together. When a rabbit appears a hunter throws his stick to bring it down. 

To boil food Native Americans would dig a hole, line it with rawhide to prevent leaking, and fill with water. They would put red-hot stones in which would cause the water to get hot enough to boil meat. They would add more stones as needed.

The Navajo used to be nomadic hunters but they learned about farming crops and sheep from the Spanish in the 1500s. They stole sheep from the Spanish at first but in time became expert farmers. 

Pemmican was buffalo meat pounded and mixed with berries and fat to produce a dried food. It was stored and eaten later when fresh food was scarce. It was high in protein and could be stored for years. 

Tribes like the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw hunted deer in disguise. A like hunter tracked a deer, sometimes wearing deer hide as camouflage, and imitated a mating call. They approached downwind. The image showed a hunter wearing a deer head with he hide still attached that came down to his knees. I've never seen that before and it was quite startling to see that much of a deer on a person.

Mohawk warriors were fearless and brave. 
They wore their hair in a mohawk or kept one side of their scalp cleanly shaved and the other side painted a bright color. I wish the illustration would have shown that because I wanted to know exactly what it looked like. 

Almost everything Native Americans wore was made of leather. It was tanned by soaking it in water and rubbing it with fatty oils and the brains. Then it was stretched into shape on a wooden frame and dried. After scraping it with sandstone, the soft and supple leather could be cut and sewn into clothes. Buffalo that were killed later in the year had thicker hides that made warm winter clothes.
 
Plains women liked to rub sweetgrass into clean clothes to give them a fresh scent. Makeup wasn't common. Sometimes women painted the part in their hair but this was to show age, not for looks. 

The Pima and Papago lived in the Southwest and needed little clothing in the hot climate. But in the winter they rubbed animal grease on their upper bodies to keep warm.

Some Papooses had sharp, projecting wooden points so if it fell off a mother while she was riding a horse, they would stick on the ground and protect the baby. There was heavy padding that formed a sun shield over the top and also protected the baby's head if it fell. 

Many tribes had rituals for children before they were even born. Tribes like the Nez Perce and Northern Shoshone had ritual prayers for men who wanted to be dads. Pregnant moms had their own prayers and a special diet, giving up meat and eating only fish and birds. Pregnant Iroquois women stopped eating turtles so their babies wouldn't grow up clumsy like turtles on land. Navajo women untied their braided hair and freed animals like horses so their baby would have free passage and safe birth. 

An Iroquois man would give a present to his future wife. They usually had a trial marriage before they agreed to a real marriage. 

Pueblo tribes organized mock battles between young men and older men. They had to show their courage and strength without injuring anyone in order to become a man.

A Dumaiya was a Hopi trial marriage in which a woman lived with the guy's family for a few days. If the family was happy with the arrangement then a formal wedding would take place.

When a young Plains man killed his first buffalo, he would be given the tongue, the tastiest part, but he would be expected to turn it down and offer it to his friends and be generous. To show maturity he would he wouldn't eat any of the first animal he killed.

They believe spirits fill everything, from an eagle to a seed of corn. Illness and climate are believed to be ruled by spirits.
Plains tribes thought lightning and thunder were punishments from spirits. They needed to get on good terms with spirits in order to avoid their anger, so they had ritual smoking of thunder pipes. They were colorful and decorated with eagle feathers and small bells.

Pueblo tribes like the Hopi gave Kachina dolls to their children to teach them about the types of spirits. 

Special Lakota warriors were directed by spirits to lead their lives backward. They would walk backwards when they were supposed to go forward and only walk forward when they were supposed to go backwards. They said yes for no and no for yes. But in battle they behaved normally. I've never heard of that.

I've also never heard of a cry shed. It was built of earth and stood for the troubles and wishes of the community. It was set on fire and burned down, and as it went up in smoke the misfortunes were blown away on the wind and hopes and expectations were carried to the spirit world. 

The Papago and Pima had a chief official called the Keeper of the Smoke. Every 4 years they celebrated the harvest. 

The Iroquois had a winter festival in which small groups of teens were led singing and dancing around the village by an older woman. They stopped outside people's homes and waited for presents to be brought out to them. 

Warriors of most Plains tribes felt that counting coup was a greater honor than injuring the enemy or stealing horses. The Blackfeet preferred to capture shields. 

Many women were sharp shooters and able horsewomen.

Some tribes included female warriors in battle and raiding parties.

I was astounded that they make up only 1% of the U.S.'s population.

It's cool that Mohawk helped build the Empire State Building. It started in the 1880s when they were hired to work on tall buildings and by the 1930s their fearless ability to work at heights was well-known and they have a tradition of high-ride building alive today. 

I was thrilled at the mention of the Lost Colony in NC and that the local tribe took pity on them and let them live with them. Their descendants are the Lumbee. 

I had never heard that European settlers encouraged bad feelings between tribes because they knew they would be less likely to fight the colonists if they were busy fighting each other.

There was some conflicting info.
On pg. 100 they wrote that before the arrival of Europeans Native Americans had never seen a horse. But earlier it had said that horses were here long before the Spanish but died out at some point.
 
It's terrible that some Americans thought that the destruction of buffalo would force Native Americans into submission, that way they would be forced to farm and get food from the government. Some tried to stop the slaughter but failed.

I had never heard that the Union represented the 23 northern states and the Confederacy represented the 11 southern states.
The Confederacy elected their own president. Kentucky is the only state to have 2 presidents, because President of the Union was Abraham Lincoln and the President of the Confederacy was Jefferson Davis.

It's so tragic that Lincoln didn't want to go to the theater because he had seen his own death in a dream. He told his wife he'd seen himself in a coffin.

They said George Bush was the youngest pilot in the Navy and didn't even say how young he was! Wth? 

I really liked the question why are bears called teddies? Theodore Roosevelt's nickname was Teddy and on a hunt he refused to shoot a bear cub. It inspired a cartoon which inspired the toy Teddy's bear.

Lacrosse was invented by Native Americans in Canada, who called it baggataway. Iroquois games could last 3 days and each team could have up to 1,000 players each. One of the goals was to disable as many opponents as possible. 

Some of the information was repeated twice or more. Like in the President section a president would be mentioned and then later he would be mentioned again in the People's section, with the same fact being repeated. They mentioned Grant and Lee and other leaders in the Civil War section again in the People's section like we had no idea who they were. And Lewis and Clark, who we had already learned about. John Wayne came up again and I was so irritated. Information should not be repeated. This many people in the world and they couldn't come up with anyone new to talk about. 
And the same people were mentioned multiple times in a section, when all of their information should have been stated in one place. The same names would pop up with different facts and I was like wait, weren't we done with this person? They should have highlighted diff people instead of mentioning the same ones, or at least get all the facts about them out at once.
They brought up Allan Pinkerton and Pinkerton Agency again, for the 3rd time.
They asked which brothers made the first airplane like they hadn't already told us that long ago. Come on, who edited this thing?

I think someone literally lost their mind. On pg. 206 it said Muhammad Ali was Cassius Clay, changed his name when he converted to Islam. Then on pg. 242 they asked "Who started life as Cassius Clay?" And launched into another explanation. What the hell?
We also had to sit through Jim Thorpe like they hadn't already told us, even quoted the King of Sweden again that he told him he was the greatest athlete. Joe Montana again and the house that Ruth built, the baseball stadium. They asked how Theo. Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt were related after having already told us. 

There were lists of quiz questions at the end about each section, as if I wanted any more questions. They had the answers but I didn't feel like taking a quiz after reading 245 pages of facts. And I couldn't have answered half the questions anyway.

I was feeling very favorably towards this until I got to the lasts sections, the presidents, sporting heroes, and great Americans. I didn't like those and hurried through to get done. But when so much information was repeated in the great Americans section, things they had already told us and that were fresh in my mind, I was beyond irritated and it dropped in my estimation. If I could catch that from reading it once, then whoever wrote this and edited it should have known about it. Readers' time is valuable and to ask us to sit there and read through things we just learned is infuriating. If you don't any any new material, end the book. Don't repeat things you've already said. What a rookie mistake.

[Jacob Bertin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately there are numerous mistakes. Incorrect dates, grammatical errors, as well as incorrect names under pictures.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was in the 4th grade, I was on a huge American History kick. I wanted to know everything there was to know, and this was one of the many fact books I picked up along the way. I read it so many times that my copy is literary falling apart at the seams. As American history books go for kids, this is a pretty good one. It's colorful with lots of pictures to keep kids interested, but the facts are still there and mostly accurate. Of course, the history in it is cleaned up for children, but that's okay. It gives kids who want to learn more about American History an excellent foundation.

[Franklyn Kornn]

Good book to include in a text set or classroom library. This text is a really great text to get the children thinking and allow them to explore an encyclopedia without the difficulties that modern encyclopedias have. This is a great tool to introduce the topic of what an encyclopedia is and how to use one.