Fourth of July is a busy time. That, and I was reading a much longer book (The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan) that kept me distracted from the task at hand: read a book a day. More on that book later when I actually finish it (which hopefully will be later today after I go to the gym). But, so, I skipped a book on Tuesday and Wednesday in favor of sleeping in too late, getting mac'n'cheese (which I need a regular supply of), seeing Ted (which didn't end up happening), going swimming at the nearby pond (No Swimming Allowed signs be damned), and barbecuing. Any empty spaces in there were filled with The Lost Hero.
This morning I read five picture books in an attempt to catch up. They are as follows:
A Picture Book of Paul Revere
A Picture Book of Sam Adams
A Picture Book of John and Abigial Adams
(all of the above are by David Adler. Sam Adams and John and Abigail Adams were illustrated by Ronald Himler and Paul Revere was illustrated by John and Alexandra Wallner)
Heroes of the Revolution, by David Adler
Helen Keller: Her Life in Pictures, by George Sullivan
Let's group them, shall we?
A Picture Book of... is always a good series, and now this has been confirmed to me by me. The research is always quality and the illustrations are usually pretty good. I saw David Adler speak, thanks to a professional development I did at the JFK Library and Museum. His assigned topic was about how he came to write historical nonfiction and how he does his research. He had some pretty interesting things to say. First of all, he told about how, when he was growing up, he read a historical fiction book that had dialogue between George Washington and another person. When he asked his mom how the writer knew what George had said, his mom told him that the writer probably made it up. This left him with a bad taste in his mouth about historical fiction. When he became a writer, he decided that he wanted to be as historically accurate as possible, so he uses as many primary resources as possible when he researches. At the time, he was writing a book about Harriet Tubman. The majority of the books about her are written for children (I think there are only two or three books for adults that have been written about her), so he found a book from 1890 that had accounts of escaped slaves, several of whom had escaped with Harriet Tubman. He said he was using this book to write a lot of the information about how she lead slaves to freedom.
Anyway, that's part of what I like about David Adler's books: I know that there has been some painstaking research that has gone into it, so I can trust the information provided.
My favorite of these was the book about John and Abigail Adams. Maybe it's just because I like her, but I thought that this provided the best information about the subject(s) and the illustrations were far superior to those done by John and Alexandra Wallner for Paul Revere. Those illustrations looked a little hokey and young to me. These books are great books for students up through fifth grade to gather information about these people, so the illustrations should strive for some kind of artistic merit. I felt like these pictures belonged in a picture book for younger readers.
As for Sam Adams, I enjoyed it, but the book was more largely focused on the events surrounding Sam Adams, rather than Sam Adams himself. This is fine, since it gives a good context for his life, but I also like getting to know the person when I read a biography.
The thing I like the best about these books in general is that Adler always has an author's note that expands on or, sometimes, corrects the information given in that actual narrative. I think sometimes this is done to exaggerate a point in the narrative -as he does in Heroes of the Revolution when he describes John Paul Jones as shouting "I have not yet begun to fight!" in the narrative, but in the author's note, he says that it's more likely that he said "No, I'll sink, but I'll be damned if I'll strike [surrender]."
These three books, along with Heroes could all definitely be used as part of a research project during a unit on the Revolutionary War. Heroes gives a good context for who all the different people are, while any of the A Picture Book of... books could be used to give more depth to each person's life. They could also be used as mentor texts during a unit on reading and writing biographies, or they could be used just to conduct research during these units. All in all, I think any of the books are a great addition to the elementary school classroom.
Helen Keller I have a harder time coming up with uses for. The example she sets is definitely one to mimic. She overcame a lot of adversity, and definitely deserve recognition for that. The book does not have actual illustrations. Instead, it had pictures taken throughout Helen's life, with a narrative intertwined that described Helen's life. I think I struggle with coming up with a classroom purpose for this book because it doesn't really address any standards. I thought about using it as a text to springboard discussion about how people with disabilities are treated, but other than "they're just like us" there isn't really that much discussion. Yes, they're just like us, but what do you do when they get treated differently? Why does the kid with the behavioral problems get to have a chart with some pretty easy stuff to do on it ("Don't leave the classroom") and then he gets time on the computer? How's that fair?
I guess I keep this book around my classroom library so that I have another biography of another person important to the history of our country around. I do believe that Helen Keller made a difference in the lives of many people, especially the blind and deaf-blind. But I'm a little bit stuck for what to do with this book past keep it as an independent reading book.
Later today (maybe...don't count on it though) I'll write about The Lost Hero.
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