John, Paul, George, & Ben-Picture Book # 15

 

Author: Lane Smith

Title: John, Paul, George, & Ben

Illustrator: These illustrations were hand drawn with pen-and-ink by Lane Smith. Then the textures were created by oil paint on a canvas and by handmade papers and pulp boards. Everything was combined on a 21st century Macintosh computer. The American Revolution: A Picture Source book, by John Grafton and Decorative Maps by Roderick Barron are also a part of the additional illustrations.

Readability Score: Grades 1-4

Genre: Fiction

Sub genre: Historical Fiction

Theme: Reading about the childhood of our founding fathers with a humorous twist on history

Primary and secondary characters: John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson are all primary characters. Mr. Douglas is Thomas' teacher who is a secondary character.

Awards: A New York Times Bestseller, A Blue Ribbon Book from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, and many other awards for its humor, summer children's pick, or book of the year

Date of publication: 2006

Publishing company: Hypertion Books for Children, New York

ISBN number: 978-0-7868-4893-5

Summary: This picture book is a humorous story about Hancock, Revere, Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson from the views of their supposed childhood. The humor in this book is that the characters relate to their actions or phrases that each is known for in history. Reading along the author takes each character back to their childhood's beginning to show how they became who they were later on from the arrival of the Redcoats to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The end of the book actually contains true and false statements that correlate with questions that Lane Smith asks the audience to set the record straight on the facts and what is not real. The cover and title are clearly a tribute to The Beatles, which caught my eye when I was searching for books.

I really liked this picture book because it takes historical figures that all students should be aware of and it takes us back to their childhood and what made them who they were. It's a humorous book that will have many students and teachers laughing at it's illustrations and it's phrasing. I would use this book in the classroom after a lesson on the founding fathers and their history about what made them historical. It's a good way to teach a lesson while having fun. It also contains a true/false section at the end, which can be a great way to quiz the students on actual facts or false events that may have happened. I also love how it's a tribute to The Beatles with it's clever title and first page!