Monica Kulling - Francis Scott Keys Star-Spangled Banner

Text copyright 2012 by Monica Kulling
Cover art and interior illustrations copyright 2012 by Richard Walz Photo credit: Armed Forces History Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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randomhouse.com/kids Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at randomhouse.com/teachers Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kulling, Monica.
Francis Scott Keys Star-spangled banner / by Monica Kulling; illustrated by Richard Walz.
p. cm. (Step into reading. A step 3 book)
ISBN 978-0-375-86725-5 (trade) ISBN 978-0-375-96725-2 (lib. bdg.)
eISBN: 978-0-375-98008-4
1.

Baltimore, Battle of, Baltimore, Md., 1814Juvenile literature. 2. United StatesHistoryWar of 1812FlagsJuvenile literature. 3. FlagsUnited StatesHistory19th centuryJuvenile literature. 4.

Key, Francis Scott, 17791843Juvenile literature. 5. Star-spangled banner (Song) Juvenile literature. I. Walz, Richard, ill. II.

Title.
E356.B2K85 2012
973.52dc23 2011027443 Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. v3.1 For Nancy, the lady from Baltimore
M.K.
For Angie and Jim Denton.
Ad astra per Harley.
R.W.

Francis Scott Key loved writing poems. He wrote them on horseback. He wrote them late at night. Once Francis even wrote a poem after a battle. Francis lived in Georgetown, Virginia, near the Potomac River. Francis lived in Georgetown, Virginia, near the Potomac River.

He and his wife had eleven children. Francis was a lawyer. People came to him with their problems. Francis liked to help. He was always busy. Every morning Francis read the newspapers.

Exciting things were happening in young America. It was now free of England. It was free to make its own laws and to grow in its own way. Trade with France helped America grow. Ships carried wood and cotton to France. They returned with furniture and fashions.

Trade with France could be dangerous. England was at war with France and needed more sailors. British ships followed American ships on the high seas. They took the ships. They forced the sailors to join the English navy. And the anger grew. And the anger grew.

America wanted to move into lands west and north. But England held forts in the west. They ruled Canada in the north. America would have to fight England for freedom to gain new land. So in 1812 America declared war on England. Francis joined the reserves.

Reserve troops help regular army troops. Francis helped the troops in northern Maryland. He loaded, fired, and cleaned cannons. But he was slow and clumsy. After ten days, the army sent him home. In the spring of 1813, American troops burned down government buildings in Canadas capital.

More than a year later, the English troops struck back. In August 1814, they marched on Washington. They set fires all over the city. They burned down the White House! The British didnt stay for long. They planned to attack Fort McHenry next.