Uncle Sam's Kids When Duty Calls

Author/Illustrator: Angela Sportelli-Rehak

About the Author:

Angela Sportelli-Rehak is the mother of three and the wife of a Lieutenant Colonel. She is an author of books for and about military families.  She has written the entire Uncle Sam's Kids series.

Genre: Non-Fiction
Grade Level: K-3

Synopsis:
This book is about  a boy named Nick who it in the Uncle Sam Kid’s Club.  His troop, 109, will be competing with other troops to win a tour of the USS Liberty Bell, which is a large aircraft carrier.  Nick goes home to tell his parents about the competition because he is very excited.  Nick’s dad tells him that day that he is being deployed on the USS Liberty Bell for six months.  Nick and his two sisters are sad but their dad tells them everything will be alright and he will be home soon. Nick and his troop decide to make a Care Sackpack for the troops and they won the contest!  The day comes for Nick’s tour and his dad’s deployment and Nick is very excited but still sad.  The troop got to take a tour of the entire ship and saw the mess hall, the sleeping areas and the control panels. When it was time for the ship to depart Nick and his family said goodbye to his dad and he assured them it would go by quickly.  After their father had been gone for a while the kids began to miss him a lot, so they decided to make him his own care sack pack to remind him of his family.  They got a letter back from their dad telling them how much he missed them and that he would be home soon. Finally came the day for their dad to come home the kids made a big sign and held it up as he got off of the ship. They were happy to have their family back together again.

Pre Reading Activity:

Before reading this book you should talk about the military with your class and ask them what they already know. Some may know more than others but all of the students should be aware of what the men and women in the military do for our country.

Post Reading Activity:

After reading you could have your students write a letter to someone that is deployed thanking them for everything they do.

You can also have your students think of different ways to show that they care for the people in our armed forces, such as the care sack pack.

Reflection:

This book was extremely touching and I think should be in every classroom. A lot of students do not understand or know anything about the military but they should know how much they do for our country.  This book also made it very easy to understand what was going on and I believe it can be read as early as kindergarten.