STAR-SPANGLED FUN: Things to Make, Do and See From American History

by James Razzi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1976

More easy projects from the author of Just for Kids (1974), Bag of Tricks (1971), etc.--though here the ingenuity is stretched unnaturally at times to fit the bicentennial theme. The game he plays in a box with pencil and pennies isn't really much like a ""log rolling contest""; the founding father's quill pen you can make ""just for fun"" is nothing but a ballpoint with a cut paper frill; and other entries are only old tricks with a superficial star-spangled twist. Still, Razzi's characteristic nifty simplicity is evident too: with very little processing his hand tracings on paper really do look like turkeys and his teaspoon tracings become 3-D tulips; a similar minimum of extras turns a paper towel and a toilet paper tube into a recognizable ""flintlock gun"" to hang on the wail; and--moving up to date--the egg-carton moon buggy really roils along, on thread spools. Obviously no aid to appreciating genuine Americana, this is for kids (and their pressured den mothers) who are content with a Davy Crockett pouch made out of a fringed paper bag. And at least Razzi doesn't pull the usual Yankee Doodle switch and stick macaroni on anything at all.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 62

Publisher: Parents' Magazine Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION