Kid's books and Sousaphone history

I accompanied my wife to our local library one day, and thought I'd peruse the children's book section to see what I could learn about Sousaphone history. It turns out that kids are getting a lot of bad information. Here are a few samples:

First up, from 1964 (above), is the often-mentioned falsehood that the Sousaphone "was first used . . . in  marching band."

The same falsehood appears in this book, but also note the backwards facing bell in the drawing above.

Yeah, I didn't know that, because 1910 is 15 years after the fact. And the first Sousaphone was not quite that tall. I've held it and played it.

And here are some fun comics from a book on Sousa:

Finally, and this was not at our local library, but in a kid's book I found in The Creamery up at Penn State, where my son is enjoying his second year. Check out the ergonomics on that Sousaphone!

For a children's resource that does get Sousaphone history right, click here.