Greetings and Readings from the Garden State

Perhaps I've mentioned that my family likes to spot license plates when we are on car trips. On our recent drive from New Jersey to Washington DC to West Virginia and back home, we listed over thirty different state plates we saw. As my kids have been doing this for years you would think we know all about the fifty nifty United States by now. However, there's always more trivia to learn. For his recent tenth birthday, my mom gave my son a great source of more state facts, Greetings from the 50 States:How They Got Their Names written by Sheila Keenan and illustrated by Selina Alko. It is colorful, interesting, and devotes one map and one page of text to each state. The book provides just enough information to entertain without overwhelming. I like that it includes how each state got its name and nickname(s). I've always known that Ohio is the Buckeye state and Oklahoma the Sooner state, but now I know why. Greetings from the 50 States is terrific for the middle grade reader interested in nonfiction, geography, or headed out on a road trip soon.