George Washington and His Hatchet
From Fifty Famous Stories Retold, by James Baldwin
This story comes from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin, first published in 1896. George Washington was the first president of the United States. This famous tale teaches that telling the truth is more important than avoiding trouble. Historians are not sure if the story really happened, but it has been told for more than two hundred years because the lesson matters: honesty is worth more than anything we might lose. This text reflects its era.
- Band
- Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
- Length
- short · about 328 words in 4 sections · 4 pictures
- Source
- Fifty Famous Stories Retold, James Baldwin
- First published
- see the About page in the reader
- Regions
- Canada · United States
Included formats
- · Web reader and PDF
- · EPUB for e-readers
- · Home-print sheet
- · Folded booklet
- · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
- · Worksheet
- · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
- · Read-aloud script
- · Colouring page
- · Teacher’s Edition (members)
Lesson at a glance
- Reading
- about 8 minutes at this band
- Pause questions
- 3
- Words to Know
- 4
- Quick Check
- 6 questions, with the answer key
- Let’s Talk
- 3 questions for afterwards
- Worksheet
- questions, an activity and a drawing prompt
About 35 minutes with one story, all of it.
Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.
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The same story
Other bands of this story
This story is ready now at the Purple band only. Other bands can be made to order for members after launch.