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Discover America State By State
H is for Hoosier: An Indiana Alphabet
Indiana is called the Hoosier State and its people are known as Hoosiers, although historians don't really know why. They do, however, have several ideas about the origins of the famous nickname. Children can learn these origins and other facts about the Hoosier state in H is for An Indiana Alphabet, written by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds and illustrated by Bruce Langton.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 6, 2017
I preface this review with a note of gratitude to my dear friend who gave us this book. It was a thoughtful gift, and I will forever treasure that thought. Now, a review:
While the pictures are very nice, the verse, the choice of subject matter, and the presentation of that matter were infuriating. I don't know Reynolds personally, but this book leads me to believe that she is a bad person.
The verse is wildly uneven. We start out with your boring, but respectable, four line AABB rhyming scheme, but it only takes her until the letter D before she apparently got stuck and decided to screw it. For the rest of the book, the lines vary in length and number and sometimes she can't even be bothered to make a rhyme at all. If there was a meter, I was too angry to notice.
Because already by the letter E we have "explorer" which depicts a Frenchman and his little moustache paddling all by his European lonesome down the river in a native canoe. So, on the one hand, it's a word of no exclusive importance to Indiana and square on the other it whitewashes the entire concept of exploration -- which would not be half so irritating if N didn't stand for "Native." Yes, the state of Indiana, the book proudly proclaims, was named (WHICH ALSO BEGINS WITH N OMG) forNative Americans Who Were Displaced the Hell Out the State ASAP Indians an absurd term first used in the Americas by cinnamon-and-gold-obsessed Europeans with a very poor understanding of geography.
I is for Indianapolis, which Reynolds claims is where the laws "that make our state so great" are made. It is here that I began to suspect that Reynolds is a Republican, a liar, or has taken up residence down a well.
L is for Lincoln. So, apparently, is the letter Z. Let me tell you something about Indianans: they are obsessed with the notion that Lincoln lived there for like two weeks as a kid.** They will not let it go. Twenty six letters and they give TWO of them to a toddler.
M: ". . . fast cars race around the track / 200 times before they come back." THEY COME BACK TWO HUNDRED TIMES.
Q is for Quayle. A state full of glorious quarries, and Reynolds goes with Quayle.
R is the most insulting: actual poet James Whitcomb Riley. This would lead me to believe that Reynolds may have, at some point in her life, seen a poem, but she sure didn't bother to put any in this book. Jim, I don't know any of your poems, but I'm still sorry you had to be a part of this.
S, where "In olden days, schools taught the Golden Rule," because nowadays all they teach is rap music and gender studies. Is that what you are getting at, Reynolds? IS IT?
T is for Tulip Tree, a fine choice. It's the state tree and a beautiful one. "[T]his tree grows big, so you can play in its shade for hours," says the poem. Meanwhile, the picture shows a khaki bedecked dude and his tow headed offspring playing GOLF in the SUN.
It was at this point that I asked my own son if I could put the book in the trash. To my dismay, he said no.
V is for Vincennes. The verse touts the state's first newspaper and public library. The picture is of George Rogers Clark for some reason.*
X is for . . . nothing. Reynolds could find no word that begins with X. She says you can find Xs on railroad crossing signs. "Crossroads of America," she says. Fine. Trains are fine. Maybe one will roll by and put the deer in the picture out of its misery.
"Y is for Yellow, a mellow yellow." No. Stop.
My god. I've just looked and there is a real poem at the very end. Not, like, one of Riley's, but some other nerd. What is this? Penance? You think this Arthur Mapes fellow is going to repair the damage you've done to my night, Reynolds? HA. I don't even LIKE poetry! You could have spared yourself so much trouble if you'd just given up on the rhyming. You already have a thousand words of exposition crammed into the sides. Why didn't you just go with that? As it stands, I'm too wound up by the experience to even consider reading it.
Oh well. At least I got to do some yelling while I read it to my kid. Hooray yelling!
** It's hyperbole. Don't message me. I don't care.
* Yes I know there are six gajillion words of prose on the sides explaining things, but I'm not going to sit here and read them all to a five year old who's skirting bedtime too closely already.
While the pictures are very nice, the verse, the choice of subject matter, and the presentation of that matter were infuriating. I don't know Reynolds personally, but this book leads me to believe that she is a bad person.
The verse is wildly uneven. We start out with your boring, but respectable, four line AABB rhyming scheme, but it only takes her until the letter D before she apparently got stuck and decided to screw it. For the rest of the book, the lines vary in length and number and sometimes she can't even be bothered to make a rhyme at all. If there was a meter, I was too angry to notice.
Because already by the letter E we have "explorer" which depicts a Frenchman and his little moustache paddling all by his European lonesome down the river in a native canoe. So, on the one hand, it's a word of no exclusive importance to Indiana and square on the other it whitewashes the entire concept of exploration -- which would not be half so irritating if N didn't stand for "Native." Yes, the state of Indiana, the book proudly proclaims, was named (WHICH ALSO BEGINS WITH N OMG) for
I is for Indianapolis, which Reynolds claims is where the laws "that make our state so great" are made. It is here that I began to suspect that Reynolds is a Republican, a liar, or has taken up residence down a well.
L is for Lincoln. So, apparently, is the letter Z. Let me tell you something about Indianans: they are obsessed with the notion that Lincoln lived there for like two weeks as a kid.** They will not let it go. Twenty six letters and they give TWO of them to a toddler.
M: ". . . fast cars race around the track / 200 times before they come back." THEY COME BACK TWO HUNDRED TIMES.
Q is for Quayle. A state full of glorious quarries, and Reynolds goes with Quayle.
R is the most insulting: actual poet James Whitcomb Riley. This would lead me to believe that Reynolds may have, at some point in her life, seen a poem, but she sure didn't bother to put any in this book. Jim, I don't know any of your poems, but I'm still sorry you had to be a part of this.
S, where "In olden days, schools taught the Golden Rule," because nowadays all they teach is rap music and gender studies. Is that what you are getting at, Reynolds? IS IT?
T is for Tulip Tree, a fine choice. It's the state tree and a beautiful one. "[T]his tree grows big, so you can play in its shade for hours," says the poem. Meanwhile, the picture shows a khaki bedecked dude and his tow headed offspring playing GOLF in the SUN.
It was at this point that I asked my own son if I could put the book in the trash. To my dismay, he said no.
V is for Vincennes. The verse touts the state's first newspaper and public library. The picture is of George Rogers Clark for some reason.*
X is for . . . nothing. Reynolds could find no word that begins with X. She says you can find Xs on railroad crossing signs. "Crossroads of America," she says. Fine. Trains are fine. Maybe one will roll by and put the deer in the picture out of its misery.
"Y is for Yellow, a mellow yellow." No. Stop.
My god. I've just looked and there is a real poem at the very end. Not, like, one of Riley's, but some other nerd. What is this? Penance? You think this Arthur Mapes fellow is going to repair the damage you've done to my night, Reynolds? HA. I don't even LIKE poetry! You could have spared yourself so much trouble if you'd just given up on the rhyming. You already have a thousand words of exposition crammed into the sides. Why didn't you just go with that? As it stands, I'm too wound up by the experience to even consider reading it.
Oh well. At least I got to do some yelling while I read it to my kid. Hooray yelling!
** It's hyperbole. Don't message me. I don't care.
* Yes I know there are six gajillion words of prose on the sides explaining things, but I'm not going to sit here and read them all to a five year old who's skirting bedtime too closely already.
April 12, 2026
1st to 4th grade
Genre: informational
This book does a good job at explaining things about Indiana in a fun and entertaining way. The pictures are well done and help tell the story. The author has little poems, and information on each page to really teach the reader. I learned things about Indiana from this book!
Genre: informational
This book does a good job at explaining things about Indiana in a fun and entertaining way. The pictures are well done and help tell the story. The author has little poems, and information on each page to really teach the reader. I learned things about Indiana from this book!
June 22, 2017
Wow! Such rich knowledge about the state of Indiana. So many firsts. I want to buy this book.
March 17, 2020
we have been to Indiana plenty of times ... gorgeous there. lots to see ... history to be had. well done. very colorful and fun.
February 9, 2021
My son and it enjoy reading about the different states through these books. We just recently found these books, we may have to start at the beginning.
Read
March 1, 2022An intersting history of Indiana. I learned a lot. I would recomend this for school progets or when you just want to learn somthing new.
January 7, 2026
As someone who has lived in Indiana for coming up on 10 years, I can confidently say there were some better choices for words to describe the state.
December 11, 2012
"H is for Hoosier" is no ordinary ABC book. Each letter represents a person, place, characteristic, or event of Indiana history, fostering a sense of pride in young Hoosiers. Unlike other ABC books, this book is not only for young readers. On each page, rich paragraphs delve deeply into the page's topic. This book would be fantastic for Indiana history; the simple text could be read in one day, and then the in-depth information could be studied for a day or week. The versatility and depth of this book made it stand out to me.
Author: Cynthia Furlong Reynolds
Illustrator: Bruce Langton
Publisher and date: Sleeping Bear Press, September 2001
Genre: ABC books, non-fiction
Author: Cynthia Furlong Reynolds
Illustrator: Bruce Langton
Publisher and date: Sleeping Bear Press, September 2001
Genre: ABC books, non-fiction
September 2, 2011
book is really an alphabet book about the nineteenth state in the Union, Indiana. I found it to be infor-
mational and visually appealing with the beautiful paintings which depict the subject of each letter. Beginn-
ing with letter A (Amish), and ending with (Z) Zionsville, each page is filled with a short rhyme and an accomp-
anying bank of information about each of the twenty-six subjects highlighted in the book. Phenomenal
book for further study about Indiana and exploring poetry rhymes.
mational and visually appealing with the beautiful paintings which depict the subject of each letter. Beginn-
ing with letter A (Amish), and ending with (Z) Zionsville, each page is filled with a short rhyme and an accomp-
anying bank of information about each of the twenty-six subjects highlighted in the book. Phenomenal
book for further study about Indiana and exploring poetry rhymes.
March 1, 2015
This book is an informational book about facts and history in the state of Indiana. This book is set-up in a rhyming fashion and it goes through letters A-Z listing things about Indiana. The illustrations in this book have a realistic quality to them. This book lists facts about Lincoln, the Underground Railroad, the motor speedway, and much more. This would be great for a fourth grade history poster project.
September 20, 2014
This book would be great if teaching fourth grade Indiana History. I enjoyed it because it not only helps go through the alphabet, but also because it gives really great information on the state. If I end up teaching in Indiana, this is definitely a book that I will have in my classroom library.
January 18, 2011
Excellent! I loved that each alphabet had some great trivia about the state. I hope to read B is for Buckeye soon. And there is also a book in this series called A is for America.
August 10, 2011
pictures, history, facts, information and ideals about indiana
April 11, 2017
If you are looking for a children's book about Indiana, look no further! This is an excellent ABC book about the history of Indiana. Learn about Indiana's state bird, flower, capital, and much more. This book is a great way to teach students in the classroom about Indiana and of it's history.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews