American Flag Q&A

Chapter One

What country do you think of when you see this flag?

When you saw those stars and stripes, one place probably flashed into your mind: the United States of America. The flag is a symbol of our country. When people see it, they are reminded of what this country means to them.

The flag is a symbol because it stands for something. The designs on the flag are symbols too. The thirteen stripes make us think of the thirteen colonies that joined together to form the United States. The fifty stars are for the fifty states in our country today.

Many people call the flag the "Stars and Stripes."

Flags can be symbols of countries, states, clubs, or even ideas. A white flag, for example, means "I surrender." But no matter what they stand for, there are some things that all flags have in common.

American Flag Q&A. Copyright © by Sarah Thomson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from American Flag Q&A by Sarah L. Thomson
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