O Is for Old Dominion: A Virginia Alphabet

Discover America State By State

by Pamela Duncan Edwards, Troy Howell (Illustrator)

From Arlington National Cemetery (once part of Robert E. Lee's homestead) to magnificent Monticello, Virginia has always had a prominent place in American history. Jamestown, Williamsburg, and even the Pentagon are just a few of the many places highlighted in O is for Old Dominion. Readers will also be introduced to such history makers as George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Booker T. Washington.

Pamela Duncan Edwards came from England to live in Virginia twenty years ago and fell in love with her new home. Pamela was a children's librarian before becoming the author of nearly twenty-five picture books. She thinks Virginia is the most beautiful state and hopes she will live there forever. Pamela makes her home in Vienna, Virginia.

Artist Troy Howell has had a prolific career as a children's book illustrator, with countless books to his credit. He received his formal art education from the Art Center in Los Angeles and the Illustrators' Workshops in New York. Troy lives in Falmouth, Virginia.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2005

About the author

Pamela Duncan Edwards is a British-born children's author living in the United States. She has written over forty picture books published in both the U.S. and the U.K., known for their playful language and engaging storytelling.

Reviews

[Leah Angstman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a children's historical alphabet book, but as a historian and a person currently studying the (dark) history of Virginia for a research project, I'm always curious what we are teaching our children. I know it's hard to pack rhetoric and deeper understanding into a children's book, but since this one goes more in-depth than some, I'm holding it more accountable; the nonchalance with which it mentions enslaved people, yet still reveres those who owned enslaved people, is just one of the problematic issues, alongside the mentioning of American Indians only as wives and hostile killers. We open right up with a portrait of Robert E. Lee, somehow weaseling him right into the "A" slot, and perpetuating the myth that he was anti-slavery, when we know that he, himself, owned enslaved people. You simply can't be anti-anything while also participating in it; we call that hypocrisy, and it shouldn't earn you points in a kids' book. The book does try to address Virginia's troubled past with slavery, but with simplistic words like "sadly" and a cherrypicking of who gets blamed for it (Jefferson and Washington are squeaky clean, of course!), it doesn't quite punch this button hard enough, especially when it nonchalantly boasts Confederate statues at Richmond's Capitol, has a very unhealthy obsession with shoehorning the utterly awful Stonewall Jackson into every letter possible, and ends with an apologetic "yeah, but" for racist buttmunch Zachary freakin' Taylor. And in between, Monticello warrants the letter M without mentioning that it was a slave plantation (while Jefferson only has "two daughters," so the whole controversy is ignored with our revered founding father). The erasure of Native Americans as First Peoples is also problematic (and a missed opportunity since Virginia has such a rich Native history), with sentences like: Hampton Roads being significant "since colonists landed at nearby Cape Henry in 1607," with no regard for the American Indians who were there first and who no doubt found it significant well before colonists came (and had no doubt already named the location something else). The only mention of Native Americans as a whole is "hostile Indians" killing the implied-innocent settlers of Jamestown, and Pocahontas making an appearance as the wife of John Rolfe, in a very Euro-centric entry that also perpetuates the myth of John Smith and glosses over Stockholm Syndrome rather troublingly. (Be prepared for the whole thing to be wicked Euro-centric: kings, queens, and shitpiece Walter Raleigh as "a great explorer.") (And of course as a francophile, I gritted my teeth through the attribution of the American Foxhound entirely to George Washington, without even a mention of the man who brought French breeding foxhounds to George as a gift, Lafayette, and the man who had brought English foxhounds to America a century earlier, Robert Brooke, already creating the first strain of American hounds, but that is just pedantic, I know, I know, and I am just a delicate liberal snowflake for wanting accuracy and the understanding that nothing exists in a vacuum, I know, I know.) Now that I've griped about the problematic nature of many entries in the book, I should end by saying it does have many pros: It's loaded with knowledge, I learned things I didn't know, the illustrations are nice, there's a good deal of African-American mentions as something other than "slaves," there's non-problematic stuff like state butterflies and flowers, and the book goes way more in-depth than any alphabet book I've ever seen before. It just requires a few asterisks.

[Bookbag_Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Honesty Is The First Chapter Of The Book Wisdom.”

"I Am Not An Virginian, I'm A American. - Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death."

"Those Who Don't Work, Don't Eat."

"I Have No Private Purpose To Accomplish, No Party Objectives To Build Up, No Enemies To Punish-Nothing To Serve But My Country."

"Let Us Cross Over The River, And Rest Under The Shade Of The Trees."

Bird: Cardinal
Dog: American Foxhound
Fish: Brook Trout
Flag of Virginia
Flower: American Dogwood
Motto: "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Thus Always to Tyrants)
Nickname: The Old Dominion; Mother of Presidents
Song: "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny"
State Seal
Tree: Flowering Dogwood


TRAVELED TO // Arlington Cemetery - Jamestown, Williamsburg, Richmond, The Emancipation Oak - Four Port Cities, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, And Newport News, Assateague Island, Luray Caverns - Kings Dominion - Monticello, Pentagon, The Tidewater, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach - University Of Virginia - Yorktown
MET ALONG THE WAY // Robert E. Lee, Booker T. Washington, Mary Peake, George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Sir William Berkeley, John Rolfe & Pocahontas, Elizabeth I, Stonewall Jackson, Arthur Ashe, Ella Fitzgerald, Zachary Taylor,

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

can you believe: i am shocked to see there are tidbits of info i didn't know about VA ...i love this state ... i call my home state. i love it for my love of history and great amazing people. we are a lover of many things ... wine, history, views, mtns, hiking, biking, whatever sport or crafty time u enjoy ... we have it here and we share that love with others!!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Virginia alphabet.

[Bayou des Cannes Cajun · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very informative book. It is meant for a preschool age child but is written on middle school level. However, it is an alphabet book. This book simply is odd. It does NOT hold the attention of pre-school age child. The subject matter is simply not age appropriate. Yet, what middle school child will read an "alphabet book?" The content is such that I have kept it to serve as resource for papers. Has a lot of good info but real juxtaposition in presentation and focus for target audience.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

pictures, history, facts, information and ideals about virgina

[Literacy Group]

This picture book contains interesting facts about American history for each letter of the alphabet. From A is for Arlington to Z is for Zachary Taylor.

Grade 1 - 3
Heather

[Kwasi Kedem]

I want to be member of your group