Memorial Day (Carolrhoda on My Own Books)

Celebrated on the last Monday of May, the American holiday of Memorial Day is intended to honor those who have fallen in the nations' wars. This brief and informative children's book traces the history of this holiday, which originated after the Civil War as an occasion known as Decoration Day. The

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narrative here describes the carnage and loss of human life that occurred during the Civil War, before turning to the aftermath, in the northern states. Here, in the town of Waterloo, New York, a man named Henry C. Welles came up with the idea of a day to honor the fallen by decorating their graves. A similar idea was put forward by General John A. Logan, the head of the Civil War veteran's group, the Grand Army of the Republic (G.R.A.). Eventually the two days were merged, and Decoration Day was observed throughout the northern United States on May 30th. In 1882 the name was changed to Memorial Day, and became a holiday to remember the dead of all of America's wars. Almost a century later, in 1971, President Nixon made it a national holiday...

Having enjoyed author Geoffrey Scott's Labor Day recently - it is the first children's book I have read about that holiday - I was quite interested to see that he had written a similar title about Memorial Day, and I decided to read it as well, even though the day in question is long past for this year. Like Labor Day, Memorial Day is another holiday that doesn't seem to feature in that many children's books, so I am glad to have found this title. The narrative here is informative, and does not shy away from some of the horror of the Civil War - horror that made Decoration Day (and eventually, Memorial Day) particularly meaningful. It's interesting to note that there were originally two different Decoration Days, and that the southern states had a diverse range of similar observances after the Civil War. This last is only briefly touched upon in Scott's narrative, and if I had a criticism to make of the book, it would be that there should have been more information about those observances which, for the South at least, were the precursor to Memorial Day.

Leaving that aside, I found this book both informative and engaging, and appreciated the fact that a portion of it was dedicated to describing how Decoration Day would have been observed, in a small town in 1878. More generally, I appreciated the way in which it highlighted how entwined this holiday is with our national history, something of which many young people today might be unaware. Recommended to anyone looking for children's books - ages six through eight - about Memorial Day.

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