Cheney serves up ABCs of U.S. history

By Samantha Critchell
Associated Press

Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, said the original intent of "America: A Patriotic Primer" was to create a kids' book that would teach them how Americans came to be so fortunate. Associated Press "America: A Patriotic Primer" by Lynne Cheney, Simon and Schuster, $16.95

It was to be a gift to her three grandchildren and all the children she meets almost daily as she travels nationwide.

"We're so privileged to live in this country that we should know the story of how we got to be so fortunate," Cheney says.

Even with her background as a former chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a self-described perennial student of American history, Cheney says she learned quite a bit when researching "America: A Patriotic Primer" (Simon & Schuster).

The original intent was to create a kids' book, Cheney says, "but the more we worked on it, the more we began to think that we loved it so much maybe other grownups might, too."

Cheney, interviewed in a Manhattan hotel, says she hopes compelling characters such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Martin Luther King Jr. and real-life drama will further encourage children's natural enthusiasm for stories.

"We (adults) all know how the story came out, we know that the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were the winners in the end, that the drive for American independence succeeded," she says.

"But if you start with little kids and explain to them that this wasn't a powerful country and we didn't have much by way of an army or a navy, and we decided that we were going to go up against the strongest military force in the world, then it's a David and Goliath story."

The book, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, is essentially an alphabet book, with each letter standing for an idea or an ideal.

They include: "C is for the Constitution that binds us together"; "F is for Freedom and the Flag that we fly"; and "V is for the Valor shown by those who've kept us free."

When it came to the illustrations, which cram historical facts onto each page with a lighthearted touch, Glasser saw "T is for Tolerance" as one of the biggest challenges.

Glasser says she consulted with her sister and chief researcher, Jacqueline, about what really takes tolerance. They came up with a young aspiring musician who has more enthusiasm than talent playing the cymbals and driving another percussionist crazy. But there they are, standing next to each other, each allowed to do his own thing.

The "T" page is bordered with small pictures of different holiday celebrations, from Mormon Pioneer Day to Presidents Day. "I wanted to show how we celebrate side by side Ramadan and Easter," says Glasser, interviewed by phone from her home in Newport Beach, Calif.

The same was true of G, as in "G is for God."

"God was a sensitive page to do. We wanted this to be a book for everyone," Glasser says.

But then a picture came to her, one that could be from New York City or Main Street USA: a temple next to a Baptist church next to a mosque.

"This is how we live," she observes.

Glasser's idea for the cover, five children planting a flagpole in a field of flowers, was inspired by the image she saw Sept. 11 of the three firefighters raising a flag amid the ruins of the World Trade Center.

The scene was reminiscent of the famous 1945 Associated Press photograph of American soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Glasser borrowed an old issue of Life magazine that featured the photo from the New York Public Library and used it as reference.

The book was in the works before Sept. 11, Cheney says, but explaining the preciousness and price of freedom took on even more meaning after the terrorist attacks.

She also wants to encourage children and their parents to see the country beyond their hometown borders. She wants them to see and experience what each state has to offer.

"On the 'H' and 'I' page (for heroes and ideals), look at all these places you can visit: Sitting Bull's grave, or the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington (Va.) or the Alamo; these are places heroes are recognized. The Civil Rights Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, Mount Rushmore. There are great places all across the country where you can visit and become more informed and get caught up in some of the excitement that is American history."