What's the Big Deal about Americans

Book excerpt: From Native American traditions to immigrant inventions, from diversity to democracy, from ice cream cones to apple pie, this picture book is filled with fun facts and historical trivia, celebrating the melting pot and mosaic that is America. Did you know that the inventor of American cheese actually came from Canada? Or that founding father Benjamin Franklin was inspired to create a democratic society by a confederacy of Native American tribes who came together to stop their constant warring? How about that both "God Bless America" and "White Christmas" were written by Irving Berlin, a Russian Jew who fled to the U.S. because of persecution back home? People have come to America from many different countries, in many different ways, for many different reasons. Americans have many different beliefs, different languages, and different traditions. But even with all of these differences, America comes together with the understanding that our country and government is "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And there's nothing more American than that.