The books came well packed and wrapped up with some Rush Revere ribbon with a pretty bow. I had to stop Arlene from untying them until I could make sure I got a picture for you. These hardback books come with full-color pages of a high-quality paper. There are illustrations, photos of historic paintings and a few modern photos of the locations that characters visit. I was really impressed with the quality of the books themselves. They are made to last, which is good, because Arlene has already read hers more than once!
Besides being engaging stories that help explain history accurately, the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series has an accompanying website with so many additional features and games. Actually, RushRevere.com includes links to several websites under the Rush Revere banner that include games and activities, study guides, a homeschool depot, scholarships, book summaries and so much more! I'll include a few pictures below to give you a peek.
Thanks to the generosity of one of my blogging friends, Arlene now has her own stuffed Liberty. You can see then reading together at the bottom of this post.
Now, the part I know you've been waiting for: Arlene's review! Arlene also made the following graphics for each book. :) I think my Rush Baby is almost all grown up.
In Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims you are first introduced to Rush Revere, a fun, history loving substitute teacher at Manchester Middle School, and his horse Liberty, a time traveling horse from the American Revolution who loves history and food. He starts teaching the Honors History class when the normal teacher Ms. Borrington is out taking care of a sick family member. In his class you meet Tommy, a fun and funny boy whose jokes usually get him sent to the principals office, Freedom, a quiet girl who loves nature and animals, and Elizabeth, the popular and not so friendly “Queen” of the school. Mr. Revere is a fun teacher who instead of teaching from a boring textbook uses Liberty’s time travel abilities to show the kids “videos” of historical events and then asks them what they thought about what was going on at the time. The fun starts when Tommy makes a joke in class about Rush’s outfit, (because he is dressed as his historical hero Paul Revere) and Rush, instead of sending him to the principal’s office, comes up with an idea to teach him more about history. So using Liberty’s time travel abilities he and Tommy go back to meet the Pilgrims who they have been learning about in school. Being there in 1620 Tommy learns more about just how hard it was for the pilgrims to leave the home they knew and take a dangerous sea journey to an all but unknown land. After spending some time on the Mayflower they come back to modern day to talk about what they learned. The next time they go they take Freedom (who also found out about Liberty’s gift) with them and they go to the time when the pilgrims were having a hard time surviving and how they managed to persevere despite all the hardships. Then they travel forward a little more in time and join the pilgrims for the first Thanksgiving and learn about the joys the pilgrims had about deciding to stay in their new land. In this book they meet some really cool historical figures like William Bradford, Miles Standish, and the Native American Squanto.
In the second book Rush comes back as substitute teacher while Ms. Borrington is on vacation. On his first day back we are introduced to Cam, a new kid in town who has made friends with Tommy, he likes jokes and fun but can also be really serious and loves history. In this book Rush and the Crew (which now also includes Cam) travel back to the early days of America just before the start of the War for Independence, where they learn about why the Colonists didn’t like the king and what some of the events were that led up to the start of the war like the Stamp act, and the Boston Tea Party. They even visit the first Continental Congress. They meet really cool historical figures like Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry and even King George III. They also run into a bit of trouble when Elizabeth learns about Liberty’s abilities and tries to make Rush and the crew take her back in time so she can tell King George about what the colonies are planning so that he will make her royalty. But they foil Elizabeth's plan and make sure history stays as it really happened.
This book starts when Rush gets a call from Cam’s mother, she tells him about how Cam’s dad is overseas with the Marines and how Cam is having a hard time dealing with it. She also tells Rush how Cam doesn't really understand why his dad is gone and what he is fighting for. She had learned that Cam liked Rush’s class and she was wondering if Rush could help him. We meet with Cam again and find him fighting with Billy who is a bully and Cam is trying to make him stop picking on his friend Ed. Cam is having a hard time so to help him feel better Rush organizes a summer history class with the crew to have fun learning history. In this book they travel to the American Revolution and meet amazing people like Dr. Joseph Warren, Paul Revere, Samuel Daws, George Washington, Henry Knox, and John Hancock. They visit important events during the revolution like Paul Revere’s ride, the Battle of Lexington Green, Bunker Hill, and visit General Washington’s troops while they were camped over winter at Vally Forge. At the end of the book they even visit the first Continental Congress and witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At then end of the book Cam has learned what the first American Patriots were fighting for and the reasons why his dad is fighting for them today.
In this book Tommy’s grandfather whom he is really close to is in the hospital, and so to take his mind off of it Rush organizes a trip for the crew to Washington D. C. The crew along with Freedom’s Grandfather go around D. C. to all the cool museums and buildings from the capital building to outside of the White House. They have fun and meet a homeschooled girl named Maddie whom they hang out with. They go to a baseball game together and they make her a long distance crew member. During this book they go back in time to the Continental Congress and learn about Thomas Jefferson and the writing of the Constitution. They visit the War of 1812 where they meet Frances Scott Key while he was under the capture of the British near Fort McHenry and wrote what we now know as our National Anthem. They meet John Adams, Dolly Madison, and so many cool historical figures that they met before but get to know better in this book.
In this book Cam wants to run for school president, but Rush realizes that he wants to run because he wants to be popular, not because he fully realizes what an important and hard job it is. The Crew travels back in time to meet the first three presidents, while there Cam learns from George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson the importance of serving your people, listening to everyone's ideas, and leading your country (or school) with wisdom. They also meet other important historical figures like Abigail Adams and Martha Washington where they learn about how every amazing person needs other people around them to help them. Also running for president is “Queen” Elizabeth who is only interested in the cool kids and gives Cam a hard time during his campaign that he must overcome.
I really like the books because the characters come alive, both the historical figures they talk to, and the modern day characters like Tommy, Cam, Freedom, Liberty and even Elizabeth. The characters are fun, and funny, but also thoughtful about what they learned. I can't wait for the next book to learn more about the amazing history of our country.
A big "Thank You" to Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh for sharing their love of true American history with us through this amazing books series!
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