The Flag Maker: A Story of the Star-Spangled Banner

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good in very good dust jacket. Signed by author. Signed by author on t-p. DJ has slight wear and soiling.. Nivola, Claire A.. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 32 p. Illustrations. Author's note. Sources Consulted. The flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner" also inspired the author, who upon seeing the flag at the Smithsonian Institution became curious about the hands that had sewn it. From Wikipedia: "Susan Campbell Bartoletti (born 1958) is an American writer of children's literature. She was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but eventually the family ended up in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. Susan started as an English teacher and inspired many students before deciding to pursue writing in earnest. She sold her first short story in 1989. Three years later in 1992 she published her first picture book, Silver at Night. She held a rigid routine, awaking early in the morning in order to write before she left to teach. In 1997 she turned to writing full-time. Susan has since returned to inspiring future writers. She teaches writing classes at a number of MA and MFA programs, among them Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, and Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. Additionally she leads workshops offered through the Highlights Foundation. Now, she lives at Moscow, Pennsylvania." From an on-line posting: "Claire A. Nivola was born in New York in 1947. She grew up in the city but spend school vacations on Long Island, the setting for her picture book Elisabeth. As a child, she loved being read to and, the daughter of artists, she started drawing and sculpting at an early age. Shortly after graduating in History and Literature from Radcliffe College, Claire illustrated her first picture book, The Disobedient Eels and Other Italian Tales. Since then, she has illustrated, as well as authored, a number of other picture books to critical acclaim, including Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai, which won the 2009 Jane Addams Children's Book Award and was a 2009 Africana Book Awards Honor Book for Young Children. Planting the Trees of Kenya was also selected for inclusion in the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Project. Claire A. Nivola lives in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts."