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The character-revealing incidents and humorous anecdotes in Jean Fritz's six Revolutionary War biographies depict historical figures who are more true to life than the heroic or villainous stereotypes often found in textbooks. You may begin to explore and appreciate the human complexities of these famed personalities through the development of character webs, which visually represent their foibles and quirks as well as their documented strengths. Patrick Henry will emerge as an expert at bird calls and a father of four in addition to being a great orator. King George will be seen as an amateur astronomer and the father of fifteen as well as a ruler. The construction of character webs also may be used to highlight significant similarities and differences among these Revolutionary personalities. You may then compare Fritz's character depictions with those found in other writings. For example, you may share Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" with your classmates and have them compare and/or contrast the poet's romanticized view of Revere and his famous ride with that provided by Fritz.
And what a time it was! Each of Jean Fritz's humorous biographical narratives is well informed by important facts and small vivid details shedding light on historical personalities as well as on the shared context of their Revolutionary Period. You may develop time lines to help you organize and perceive important events as they pertained to the lives and beliefs of each of these individuals. Then, take all of the individual time lines of your classmates and incorporate them into a multi-strand representation, which will enable everyone to synthesize the events chronicled in each of these books and "see" when and where these six men crossed paths, joined hands, or opposed each other. You may work in small groups on the individual chronologies, each member contributing one strand to the group's development of the multi-strand time line. It is important to have your group agree on a scale so that events may be shown clearly by year or by decade. You may want to make your group time lines on long rolls of paper, entries may be written on cards or Post-it notes, allowing for temporary placement along each line and ease in correction or realignment. Once all information is properly placed, your group may embellish selected events with drawings and pictures.
Jean Fritz's biographical series is complemented by the artwork of three prominent children's illustrators: Margot Tomes, Trina Schart Hyman, and Tomie dePaola. Look carefully at the visual representations provided by these artists to determine how they contribute and add to the textual information provided by the author. Do the illustrators use different media and techniques? How does their style of presentation affect the mood and tone of each book? Do the illustrators incorporate details in their illustrations that add to or enhance the information conveyed through the narrative? How would these stories be different if the illustrations were not included?
Let's transform the humdrum experience of learning the many terms associated with our Revolutionary Period into an exciting and fun competition. Prepare answers on small cards addressing specific vocabulary and definitions gleaned from Fritz's narratives. Then the class will follow the answer-question approach made popular on the television game show Jeopardy. Team members will individually read answers to members of the opposition team, looking for correct responses in the form of questions. For example, "This English governing body voted to impose taxes on the American colonies" would be correctly answered by "What was Parliament?"; or "This book published annually by Benjamin Franklin included weather forecasts, tides, and a collection of wise sayings" would be answered, "What was Poor Richard's Almanack?" Points awarded for correct responses and lost for incorrect responses will bring momentary victory or defeat. But never fear, new opportunities for success await as students exchange their answer cards and find themselves, again and again, in Revolutionary Jeopardy!
Get out your pencils and pads, it's time to go to press! The class will be separated into staff teams for two colonial newspapers, Ye Tory Tribune and the Revolutionary Times. Each staff will explore the divided loyalties of those who resented being taxed without Parliamentary representation and those who remained loyal to King George III, disapproving of rebellious leaders who agitated for independence. Each staff will cover events like the Boston Tea Party and the battles of Concord and Lexington, the staff reporters also may choose to write editorials addressing the appropriateness of John Hancock's extravagance or Ben Franklin's perception that King George treated America like an "apprentice." The final edition of each newspaper also will require each staff to make decisions as to headlines, article placement and may include ads for Revere ware, false teeth, iron stoves, and other items of the times. The class will use the in-depth coverage of information reported in these opposing newspapers to provide opportunities for detailed investigative research and serve as a basis for further debate in which the class is led to discriminate between fact and opinion and to identify language that distorts or exaggerates actual events.
Ready…Action! The characters and events in Fritz's biographies literally can be brought to life by having you select specific episodes from each of these six narratives for role play in creative dramas. With minimal costuming and an opportunity to practice dialog and plan simple staging, you as a young thespians may re-enact the discussion in a Connecticut tavern in which John Adams tries to convince his cousin Sam to ride a horse; or the courtroom scene in which Patrick Henry delivers his famous "Liberty or Death" speech (including the man in the balcony who spit his wad of tobacco into the audience below); or the arguments that take place at the Continental Congress as to how the Declaration of Independence should be worded. Fun and learning should await both you and the audience as you step into the character and times of these prominent Revolutionary players. That's a wrap!