White Mountain Puzzles United States of America

Judy K. Polhemus says:

Review by Judy K. Polhemus for White Mountain Puzzles United States of America
Rating:
It was my thought to introduce a family activity night to my dysfunctional family, with a common goal that could unite us in a fun, challenging way and spend a couple of hours together. This 1000-piece puzzle of the United States is certainly a challenge, but not nearly as much as getting my family to agree to do anything together.

So after supper, my eleven-year-old great-niece and I unwrapped the box and began sorting the pieces, looking for the straight edges to make the frame. Both the five-year-old and the two-year-old tried to join in, creating havoc, of course. Their nine-year-old brother had refused to eat supper because he was not allowed to spend the weekend with his father. He (the boy, not the father) is considered the puzzle champ, so he was sorely missed.

Chelsea and I plodded along, finding first the foot of the jukebox, more parts to the four corners featuring the US flag, more side pieces with Arnold Palmer, Santa Claus, crayons, pizza, the famous Iwo Jima statue, the big blue standing post office mailbox, the Good Year Blimp, soccer players, baseball, football, gambling, and Martin Luther King, to name just a few of the framing pieces.

It took us two hours and repeated struggles with the young ones before Colby finally joined us, making it more fun with a threesome. At the very end my brother, the grandfather, added a couple of pieces. Finally, Chelsea and I glued the edge pieces to a poster board for eventual framing. She wants to put the US puzzle in our school library, but I’m thinking it’s going to my house. We’ll see.

Not a great success because the adults did not participate (oh yeah, I’m an adult and I participated, but it was my idea. I’m always the idea person whose ideas always get shot down by the others (adults, not kids).

On the other hand, the puzzle, though not very cooperative in giving up its straight-edge secrets, did entertain us and make us think about the United States and its component parts and cultural icons. In fact, Colby found Bill Clinton’s face and Chelsea put together Martin Luther King’s profile. Moi? Didn’t you figure? I had to create the frame. Surprised me. I figured myself so random that I would just start placing pieces here and there. There’s nothing like a difficult puzzle to learn a few things about oneself!