Young Caroline Pickersgill lives with her mother and grandmother in Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. Pickersgill, a widow, supports herself and her daughter by making flags for the ships that sail into the city. Some soldiers from Fort McHenry come to her to order the biggest and best flag in the world, and Caroline helps make it. When the British sail up the Chesapeake Bay to destroy Baltimore during the War of 1812, the defenders at the fort beat them back. After the British sail away the next day, the flag gallantly streaming over the fort is the one Caroline and her mother had sewn. a oeBy the...

Between 1821 and 1842, Charles Bird King, a famous artist, painted individual portraits of 143 Indians. In this fictionalized account, Sauncey, an eight-year-old free black, lives in Mr. King's house with her mama, Mr. King's cook. Sauncey dreams of becoming a grand lady with a feather in her bonnet like the ones in the portraits. One day the yard boy tells Sauncey that he has just been down on Pennsylvania Avenue and has seen Indians. Her mama says that Mr. King is going to paint their pictures. Later, when everyone is out, Sauncey answers a knock on the door--Indians Early reader-ages...