A 250 Years of Independence Flag  Flies Over Congress Street today, July 4, 2026.

“Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McClosky, was Published in 1948.  It is a “Staple of Maine families’ bookshelves,” says Pingree.

“1776” by David McCullough, He was the Winner of Numerous Pultizer Prizes and Other Awards. for his Landmark Contibutions to the Literature of American history.

“Happy Independence Day” is one of the  messages from Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME) issued early this morning in a press release from her office.

“………I hope we can all take a moment to reflect on the ideas that have united generations of Americans:  freedom, opportunity, a government of, by and for the people and a steadfast faith in better days to come.  Our country’s story includes extraordinary progress and extraordinary pain.  We have a history that CANNOT AND MUST NOT BE WHITEWASHED, because loving America means telling the truth about where we have fallen short, learning from it and continuing the hard work of building a nation that lives up to its highest ideals..We are bound to disgree about how to move forward and what we owe one another as fellow Americans………………….We’ve come a long way these past 250 years.  Not far or fast enough, perhaps, but a long, world-changing way nonethless.  ALL OF US HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN MOVING AMERICA FORWARD,” Congresswoman Pingree said.

In the same press release, she states that each Congrssional Delegation was invited to place a few items in a time capsule, to be sealed inside the Capitol until 2276.  Her selection was the book “Blueberries for Sal,” by Robert McCloskey,  a children’s book.  It’s about a little girl who goes blueberrying with her mother – only to cross paths with a bear cub and its mother.  According to the Congresswoman, it was written while Mr. McCloskey spent summers on an island in East Penobscot Bay.  The book was part of a trio of children’s books that “harnessed his scenery and famly as inspiration.”

Although that has been a popular childen’s book for generations, my personal choice would have been “Bambi.”  The book was written in 1942 by a German writer and later it became a movie.  One winter my family spent  in Jefferson, on Clary Lake, while my late father, a writer, tried unsuccessfully to establish a career as a free lance writer in the state.   He read “Bambi” to my brother and me on very cold nights when the snow outside was piled high – way over my head. But there was always a warm, cozy fire in the fireplace inside our rental home.  That classic story was the only book he ever read to me and it has stayed with me ever since.  My brother and I attended grammar school at the then two room Jefferson Village School in Jefferson that winter – so long ago.

“While a book may already seem like an archaic choice in our increasigly digital world, I hope books will always be the vessels that carry forward our stories.  For decades, Maine’s logging and lumbering tradition have supported the paper and publishing industries.  In both creativity and material, this book is truly a product of Maine,” Congreswwoman Pingree said.

Not so much a product of Maine alone, but with a more universal appeal is the masterful book, “1776” by the late, prolific historian David McCullough.  It was published in 2005.  Most years I try to pull it out from my book case and read portions of it outloud.  Near the beginning is a quote that Mr. McCullough attributes to General George Washington:  “Pereseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”

One of the last paragraphs in this book is:  “The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all -too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, deserton, cowardice, disllusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement and fear, as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country and that, too, they would never forget.”