Casimir Pulaski

As author David R. Collins traveled around Illinois, librarians and teachers everywhere begged him to write a book about noble Polish patriot Casimir Pulaski. The teachers complained that there was a Pulaski state holiday, as well as Pulaski towns, schools, and streets across the country, yet few students know who he was or what he did.

Casimir lived a short but active life--he was only fifteen when he took on Russian troops that attempted to conquer his homeland in the mid-1700s. When the...