25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read-Aloud for elementary school kids, October 27, 1999
This review is from: Mr. Revere and I: Being an Account of certain Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere,Esq. as Revealed by his Horse (Paperback)
This book is such fun for adults to read to kids! The hors-ey perspective on American history is a hoot, the vocabulary is challenging, and there are lots of opportunities for discussion with your bright child. The history is accurate, too. It would be an unusually motivated 9 year old who could read this alone, but as a read aloud, it offers benefits to parent and child.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
AMERICAN HISTORY STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH!, April 25, 1998
This review is from: Mr. Revere and I: Being an Account of certain Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere,Esq. as Revealed by his Horse (Paperback)
I was surprised that this book read so quickly; it's the story of the horse that Paul Revere rode as the American Revolution was gathering momentum--culminating his famous Midnight Ride. Narrated in the first person by a purebred English horse named Scheherezade, this book recounts her philosophical coming-of-age; she gradually changes from a conceited military parade horse from the Mother Country, into a fast-thinking patriotic mare of the Colonies. She finally decides to "cast in my lot with the champions of Liberty and Freedom."
The first few chapters are full of Lawson's delightful humor while the entire book showcases his pen and ink sketches. One chapter, wherein we experience the danger of his Midnight Ride, is as long as three of his normal chapters. But then, so much action was packed into one 24-hour period--culminating in the Battles of Lexigton and Concord.
We learn much about the personal life and skills of Paul Revere--not noted for his horsemanship, but rather for his work as a silversmith and for being a good family man. He sacrificed much of his homelife and basic physical comforts to help the Sons of Liberty; he acted as courier to other colonies on many vital political missions before he responded to the signal from Old North Church. This book presents an easy and enjoyable introduction to American studies; it should make elementary children want to learn more about our first steps into Nationhood.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'Did you bring your mother a bit of that lovely English tea?', July 7, 2006
This review is from: Mr. Revere and I: Being an Account of certain Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere,Esq. as Revealed by his Horse (Paperback)
"It all started with the imbecile, practically sacriligeous, determination of these stubborn Colonists to defy the sacred authority of our Royal and Sovereign Majesty King George III."
- Scheherazade, on her early career as a horse in His Majesty's armed forces
Lawson wrote at least four books in this vein: a famous figure in American history as seen by a close animal companion (ranging from a mouse acting as advisor to a ship's cat). This is the only one of the four in which the narrator would seem at first glance to be based on something that definitely existed, since Revere in his role as a courier obviously *did* have at least one horse.
Lawson, however, isn't attempting to be meticulously accurate; he's concerned with writing an entertaining story that will bring the human historical figure to life, aimed mostly at young readers. So what we have here is historical fiction in which the broad historical details are reasonably correct, including the characters of the leading figures of the Sons of Liberty, but most of the Loyalists are caricatures - the most notable exception being the storyteller, commonly known as "Sherry".
Sherry tells the story as a retrospective in her near-retirement years after her involvement in Revere's pre-War courier work have ended, starting with her early career as the personal mount of an officer in His Majesty's 14th Regiment of Foot. She's careful to retell events as she saw them at the time, underscoring the laughable arrogance of her former associates - at least, of the officers and so-called gentlemen. The "most thrilling moment of [her] entire military career" was the Regiment's last Royal review before being dispatched to Boston - through which her rider and his immediate superior slept on horseback. Lawson's portrait of Sherry's former owner Lt. Barnstable could serve as a poster about the evils of inbreeding among the gentry - and that's just Lawson's illustration. At the time, though, Sherry was deeply devoted to him just because he was her master.
The first two years of the Regiment's posting to Boston are skimmed over very quickly, mostly serving to illustrate how unsanitary long-distance ocean transport could be, the drawbacks of conscripting convicts for jobs they're neither trained nor motivated to perform well, and the high-handed behaviour of the regulars toward the people of Boston (and the cold shoulders they got in return). Unfortunately for Sherry, Barnstable opts to kill time by gambling, and has to sell her to a local factory owner to settle some of his debts.
Thus begins Sherry's long path of disillusionment with her old loyalties, when her devotion to her former master is repaid with life as an ill-treated carthorse, and her former best friend rejects her with "I never speak to civilians". Life is very bleak, until the day she wrecks her cart trying to avoid being seen by her former associates - and comes to the attention of Sam Adams, who arranges for her to be 'appropriated' and turned over to Paul Revere for his courier work. And as Sherry becomes acquainted with the revolutionaries' point of view - and even that of the rank-and-file regulars, mostly homesick conscripts - she herself begins to change.
Revere's personal tragedies in the year in which Sherry comes to live with his family are omitted, but Lawson goes to some trouble to humanize him, emphasizing his family life - particularly along the lines of implying that he couldn't afford a horse of his own, and had never ridden a horse before Sherry was given to him.
A fun story, and while it can't be taken as historical gospel, it might inspire the reader to learn more about the people involved. For that, I recommend PAUL REVERE'S RIDE by David Hackett Fischer.
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