Yankee Doodle was written by a British surgeon to poke fun at the raggle-taggle Yankee militia. The Red Coats sang it as they marched on Lexington and Concord, but it was the Americans who were singing Yankee Doodle as they chased the British back into Boston—and they've been singing it ever since.

Ed Emberley has captured the spirit of '76 in his dashing woodcuts. The horses prance on their way to town, the soldiers whistle as they put feathers in their hats, and the townspeople cheer as the Continental Army of George Washington troops along to victory—and independence.

Mr. Emberley owns and operates a small printing press and it was on this press that he printed the woodcuts and the hand-set type used in YANKEE DOODLE. Each figure or small grouping was cut on a separate block of wood and printed on rice paper. Then the print was dried, masked, and the next figure was printed. As many as twenty-four perfect impressions had to be made on one piece of paper.

From the dust jacket