Based on Go, Go America
by Dan Yaccarino
Grades: K-2

Go, Go America Word Scramble (PDF)

About the book
Author Dan Yaccarino’s zany illustrations take the reader on a wild tour of the fifty U.S. states. Kids will not only learn where the official home of the International Rotten Sneaker contest is but many other outrageous facts that will impress any history buff. Learning about the United States has never been so fun! Don’t miss the special resource section in the back of the book that offers readers a chance to research loads of facts listed by state.

Set the stage
Use the following to get students ready to read:

• Ask students to share a time when they took a family vacation trip to another state. Read the inside note from author, Dan Yaccarino, explaining that this book was inspired by his boyhood road trips with his family.
• Show students some of the illustrations in the book and ask students why they think the author/illustrator chose such a lively style to illustrate his book.
• Select your state from the resource section in the back of the book and read students the facts about your state.

Review
After reading the book, discuss the following with students:

• See how many of the fifty states students can name and list them on the board. Now see if students can recall any facts about any states listed.
• Re-read some of the outrageous laws in the book and ask students to brainstorm why those states may have come up with such silly laws.
• Test students recall of the state capitals from the book. Using the resource section in the back of the book, call out a capital and have students try to name the state it belongs to. If you stump them mention some facts on the list to help them guess the state.
• Discuss with students that statehood means the date in which states joined the union or United States. The first state to join the United States was Delaware in 1787 and the last was Hawaii in 1959 (see a full listing of statehood dates in the resource section).