Cover Image: Only in America

Only in America

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Member Reviews

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

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This is a really cool book to learn more about the 50 states. It definitely made me want to take a road trip!

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*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Pretty cool book! this would be a fun book to have on a road trip!

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In incredibly eye pleasing book full of bright colours, bold illustrations and fun trivia about the states of America. I loved it. I can see it’s appeal for burg a young and older audience. It’s what I’d call a ‘coffee table book’, which one can dip in and out of. Can’t wait to buy my own paper copy. My thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author for the opportunity to review a digital copy.

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This cute book takes the reader on a tour of the United States state by state. With each state, you are given some basic facts, interesting facts, slang, types of food, interesting town names and so much more. The graphics are very appealing and draw the reader in to read more about each state. With it being a non fiction fact book, the reader can skip around and read what they like whenever they like.
This book is a must for elementary age children who love geography or non fiction.
Many thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

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I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this eBook.

Only in America by Heather Alexander is such a quirky book. The illustrations are very well done and I must say that kids will have a wonderful time reading through this book.

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This is a very visual and inspiring look at all the states. I’m Canadian so this doesn’t have as much value here but I was the type of kid to sit and just flip through very packed fact books like this. It’s very busy and overwhelming at times so it’s def more of a read random bits at a time type of book but I know that that’s still relevant for kids today

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I love books like this. I love random facts. Random state facts are some of my favorite. Kids will love this book because while there's a lot of words on a page they are in small groupings of facts.
The country is divided by state and it tells you the state nickname. In the case of Alabama they talk about Alabama and Auburn football of course in other states they might mention something like that that is important to their state. There's animals from the state. Things invented/creating in the state. Famous people. Did you know that in Illinois that the world's largest rocking chair is in Casey? I didn't. But you know the next time I travel to Illinois I might look and see if it is on my route. 99% of the nation's hazelnuts are grown in Oregon. Excuse me I am going to go learn some more random facts.

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Nifty Fifty state facts! We love road trips and finding different towns so this was the perfect book for our family. Every state has facts about foods and different famous people. The illustrations are cute. Great for families that love to travel and that are interested in the Geography of the United States.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Heather Alexander and Quarto Publishing Group for the book Only in America. This is my personal review.
I had such a fun time reading this book! I learned so many facts and lots of great trivia.
It was a great trip across America learning things about the many states I have lived in and traveled in. I found so many things that I will share with friends and family. I liked the weird names of towns and the odd laws in some states.
This is a book that will make a great holiday gift.

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What a fun read!! I would’ve LOVED a copy of this as a kid, and read it over and over again, The facts are zany and funny, the graphics are eye-catching and interesting, and I also enjoyed how, while this book shows how different all the states are, the consistency of weird town names was something we all can’t get away from. I think I will have to buy a copy for my nephews. They will love it.

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I have had the opportunity to live in many of the states and have visited all but three (Hawaii, Alaska and Texas), so I feel fairly familiar with many, many states of the 50. This book is colorful and interesting, but it didn't really give me a real feel for the actual states as I know them. I live in Minnesota now and have for over 20 years. I'm in rural SW MN now but went to high school in northern MN and lived in other parts as well. The entry on MN was technically most true but didn't really depict the MN I know. Each state tells you what funny saying the residents say and how they talk, but it's not usually true. Minnesotans are supposed to say "Ya sure, you betcha" according to this book. 🙄 Oh please. We may occasionally only making fun of shows like Fargo (of course, Fargo is really in ND but the TV show takes place in northern MN for whatever reason). It mentions the prehistoric carvings at the Jeffers Petroglyphs, which is awesome (our family has volunteered at the site for 20 years) but most of it is just random little trivia. I do agree that "hot dish" is a good MN food to list, but the other two don't really represent the state to me at all. And Alexander makes hot dish sound like a specific mixture instead of just saying it's our word for casserole. She doesn't mention it but the phrase just comes from the old tradition of signing up to bring either a hot dish (like a casserole) or a cold dish (like a salad) to pot lucks.

I am very familiar with living in Maine, California, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas and others. Again and again I was just sort of nonplussed by the entries. They're all technically true little facts, but without photos of the states or meaningful entries it's just a very colorful book of state trivia. That can be fun for kids, but it won't go very far in giving kids an actual feel for the states.

It's still a fun little book and will be a nice intro to the states.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

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What a fun way to take a quick tour of the United States. This book is designed in such a way that it makes the reader want to read all of the little bits of information about each state. It can easily be read as a complete book or used as a reference book to get information about a specific state.

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I really enjoyed the facts about the states in this book. A lot of fun did you know type of things or useless trivia that can be added to conversation.

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Love love love!! My eleven year old loves books filled with facts and he really enjoyed this one! I will definitely be purchasing a hard copy of this one.

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We keep a children's atlas in the car for our kids to pore over whenever we travel, and I think Only in America would be an excellent companion. They love learning (and sharing) fun, random facts! My favorite feature is the book recommendations for each state -- I can't wait to start requesting books from the library. We are also excited to add new trip ideas to our family adventure list.

Fun fact: our small town is mentioned on the Iowa spread!

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I love this book! It’s not always easy to get kids into books. This book is just the kind to get them hooked, yet also get them excited to learn about the continental US. It’s jam-packed with quirky info (enough for kids to want to reread it multiple times) and fun illustrations. There’s an easy to follow organization which includes text features like a table of contents, an index, and even a “map” for how to read each page. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy - I cannot wait to get a copy for my classroom and my own children.

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A distinctive gazetteer of the American states, that goes some way to providing a certain kind of educational trivia – here we get all the nicknames, the capital, and what the US Mint state quarter designs are – and a whole host besides. Each page is a colourful spread of data, from the routine that every state gets in one infobox, to snippets and captions and factoids all over the rest, allowing you to find out where the world's biggest ketchup bottle is, or what food festival goes where, or what unusual byelaw is held to be important. Where, after all, do they throw cowpats all over the place, and where can you not throw snowballs? A lot of this (too much, perhaps) is food-related, with every state's chosen dishes in at least two places per entry, and then there are all the food festivals, harvest events and celebrations besides.

So I daren't say then that this gives a suitable flavour of every state. It doesn't, anyway, for it really does concentrate on the trivial, all the while it's pretending we ourselves should try to become a junior logsplitting champ, or aim to see the world's biggest bovine furball. It probably only has much mileage within the 50, and I can see some educators there deeming this a little throwaway and irrelevant even then. It does have some eye-catching appeal and a browse would harm nobody, but an essential purchase for a school library? I don't think so.

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The United States is a unique country and that's something I only came to appreciate in my young adulthood when I moved abroad. Firstly, it's absolutely massive in land size and has almost every ecosystem from flatlands to forests to desert to tropical to tundra. Secondly, it's incredibly culturally diverse. This book gives one page to each state filled with illustrations and facts about the state, from "serious" facts like the state flag and nickname to "fun" facts like slang and foods.

Thank you to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

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Review to come November 5th on blog/goodreads.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

My second book in which we travel through America. I earlier read a book about road trips through the US and all the weird things you can find. So of course, when I saw another fun US book I had to get it!

This was a pretty fun book in which we learn about the 50 states of the US and all that happened and happens there.From facts about weird town names (I had such a big laugh on many of the names and wondered how any of those were official) to weird laws that had me scratching my head to inventions and who made them, to food and drinks which made me very hungry (or not so as some combos just doesn't sound like something my stomach wants) to special people who did something awesome or weird, special buildings, and more. There is a lot of information packed into this book and I loved finding out more about America. There was a lot I didn't know. So I learned a whole lot and that makes me very happy. I am not sure if I remember everything if someone asks me, but it is tucked somewhere in my head. XD

There are also plenty of illustrations and fun art to make the book stand out and make reading more fun. I loved how colourful the book was as well. It really pops!~

My only complaint would be that it does get a tad boring, it would have been fun to mix things up a bit. Not the same format for all 50 states. Also, I get that this is a book for the US, but seriously, put some cm and metres and such next to the inches and whatevers. Because seriously, I have no clue how high/far/big/small something is if you tell me it is 30 inches or 2 miles. And no, I am not going to keep on Googling. That is fun once, but not all the book.

But all in all, I had fun reading this one and I am happy I got the chance. I would also recommend it, yes it was a bit samey, but I still had fun reading it and I loved all the facts from normal to weird.

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