Take your children back to 1910 for an old-fashioned New England summer in the country, complete with a July Fourth parade.

Poet laureate Donald Hall (author of The Ox-Cart Man and other classics of country life) grew up spending his summers on his grandfather's farm in rural New Hampshire. It was there he milked cows, raised sheep, and heard stories about the past that are brought to life in this read-aloud picture book for young children.

In that long-ago time, the biggest celebration of the year was the July Fourth celebration in Danbury, New Hampshire-complete with flags, marching bands, speeches, and ice cream. A trip to Boston, where toys could be bought for a penny apiece, was a major event. This is a piece of Americana that will bring readers-and listeners-back to a simpler time when pleasure came from making as much as buying, where politics were truly local, and when worth was determined by character, not price.

Published in the same format and with the same delightful handcolored scratchboard illustrations by Michael McCurdy as Donald Hall's Lucy's Christmas, this is a wonderful way to share old-time summer traditions and history with your child.