Book Review: Liberty Lee's Tail of Independence by Peter W. Barnes and Cheryl Shaw Barnes

As you know, I've been a blog-slacker lately. Who knew that having four kids and a big house would be so time-consuming? Anyway, publishers have been asking me to review various titles, and I've been passing most of them by. Sad, but true.

However, when I was asked to participate in the blog tour for Liberty Lee's Tail of Independence, I didn't want to say no. I'm always looking for fun ways to teach my kids about important subjects. The founding of the United States of America is a very important subject to me.

Liberty Lee's Tail of Independence is a picture book narrated by a mouse named Liberty Lee. He takes us on a journey through the history of our beloved country.


The story is both informative and interesting. It is written in rhyme. Rhyming can be tricky, especially when trying to pack it full of facts, but the author/illustrator team, Peter and Cheryl Barnes, do a surprisingly good job combining the two.


On the first page, we meet Liberty Lee. Then he jumps into his "tail":


"To begin, let's go back more than 400 years
To meet the first settlers--the first pioneers.
Across the Atlantic from England they came
To seek opportunity, fortune, and fame!"

He then goes to the 13 colonies, the Boston Tea Party, the Revolution, and the Declaration of Independence. It's a great overview for children who are learning about our history.

After the story, there are 7 pages called "The Tail End" that describe the events mentioned in the book in more detail.

Although I enjoyed the character Liberty Lee, I think the book might be a more effective learning tool without mixing fantasy and history. When the mouse mentioned his fictitious ancestors, it threw me off for a minute. Here's an example:

"There were carpenters, shopkeepers, sailors at sea,
And farmers--like my uncle, Hamilton Lee.

At planting tobacco, you'd find no one better--
He worked any farm that would pay him in cheddar!"

In contrast, I love the section about the Continental Congress writing the Declaration. Here's part of it:

"They debated, and then on the 4th of July,
In 1776, they said, "Aye!"--
They voted together, with great dedication,
For liberty, freedom, and starting a nation.

Fifty-six patriots signed right below
The powerful words they decided would show
That these United States would forever be
One nation, under God, independent and free!"


PS. Happy Birthday to our Country (this month) and to me (today).  :)

Using Historical Fiction to Teach History

I wrote an article over on Latter-day Homeschooling about Using Historical Fiction to Teach History. It contains a list of our favorite historical fiction for children through teens. Check it out here.

And have a wonderful day!

Warmly,
Emily

Taking My Own Advice

When Bubs and his friend, Ben, wanted to cook up some weed paint in my kitchen, my knee-jerk reaction was to say no. And I almost did. But then I remembered that I want to say yes when possible.

I'm so glad I did. It turned out to be a wonderful little homeschool project.

Here's their process...

1. Collect weeds that leave marks on the sidewalk when you rub them there. Mash up the pieces.

2. Boil in a small amount of water, stirring frequently.

3. Use a collander to separate the chunks from the paint.

4. Paint!

Here's a sample. It turned out like watercolor paint. They made yellow out of dandelions, too which made me sneeze like a maniac...but still...

I'm glad I decided to swallow the 'no' and go for 'yes' instead.

Our Pioneer Project

How to Make a Feather Quill Pen and Ink...
To make the quill pen, all you have to do is find a large hollow feather (we found one in the fly-tying aisle of the local sport store), and cut the end at an angle with strong scissors to form a point. At first, we made our "ink" by watering down some Crayola paints. That worked very well, until Bubs (always thinking) said something to the effect of...surely the pioneers didn't have crayola paints with them when they crossed the plains...

So, after some thought about what they did have (and remembering the great and abominable stain Welly-Bells got on her dress earlier in the day), we concluded that our dark red cherries would make excellent ink.

Bubs placed them on this strainer and mashed the juice through, and into a bowl. We used six cherries and added a little water. However, more cherries and less water would have worked better.

Welly wanted to do her project a little differently. She attached her feather to a pen a la Fancy Nancy, instead. And, you know what? I was okay with that. I hate when people tell kids exactly how to do art projects. I mean, isn't art all about creativity and doing things the way that speaks to you?