Paul Revere's Ride

When I was a child what we learned about Paul Revere came from a few lines in our American history books and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about his famous midnight ride. There is also the painting by Grant Wood that made an impression on me, but I only stumbled across that in one of my father's art books, which I would think is atypical for somebody in elementary school. However, all of those sources put together are not as engaging, and probably not as informative, as this story of "Paul Revere's Ride" written by Shana Corey and illustrated by Chris O'Leary. Paul Revere did more than ride to warn the minutemen that the British were coming, and Corey and O'Leary work in lots of details that will appeal to young readers. Revere was a silversmith and while he made buckles, bowls, teapots, and trays it is the chain he made for someone's pet squirrel that serves as the first illustration in the book. From that engaging start young readers learn that Revere was also a dentist who made false teeth out of hippo tusks. After that we learn that at night Revere went out to meetings of the Sons of Liberty and find out about the Boston Tea Party and the events that led to the British marching on Concord and Lexington to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock, two key colonial leaders. The rest of the book tells the story of Revere's midnight ride, adding details that will particularly appeal to young children, and then covering what happened to Revere afterwards, ending with how Longfellow's poem, written in 1860, finally made him famous. The only fault on content that I find in the book is that while it mentions the name of Robert Newman, the man who would hang the one or two lanterns in the steeple of Christ Church (known today as Old North Church), it does not mention William Dawes, another Son of Liberty rider who actually left Boston by the southern route across Boston Neck to warn Adams and Hancock a half hour before Dr. Joseph Warren asked Revere to make his journey. If you ever do the Freedom Trail in Boston (highly recommended), you can visit the graves of Revere at the Old Granary burying ground (when Adams, Hancock and the victims of the Boston Massacre are also buried) and Dawes at the cemetery at King's Chapel. This is a Step 3 book in the Step into Reading series, which is the Reading on Your Own level, appropriate to Grades 1-3 (these grade levels are only guides since children learning to read can progress through these steps at their own speed regardless of grade). If you child is comfortable tackling new words and likes to read on their own then they are ready for Step 3, which provides engaging characters, easy-to-follow plots, and popular topics, as "Paul Revere's Ride" amply proves. In helping children take their first steps towards independent reading there are also Step into Reading Sticker Books, Step into Reading Math Readers, Step into Reading Writer-In Readers, Step into Reading Phonic Readers, and Step into Reading P