From the book flap:

"In his magnificent interpretation of Longfellow's poem, Christopher Bing seamlessly weaves history and imagination into a rich portrait of an American hero. A meticulous researcher, Bing includes maps that follow the British campaign to quell the rebellious citizenry, as well as the patriot's ride into the Massachusetts night. He recreates documents - the British general's orders to his troops and Revere's own deposition relating the events of his ride - which translate the journey into a tactile as well as a visual experience."

This book would be read-aloud as an interactive read aloud. With fifth grade students, this book could be used to practice map-reading. The students could look at a simplified map of the United States. They could then, according to the book and additional research, trace the path Paul Revere took and do reserach on the places that he rode through. They could then, in groups, create representations of their research and present them to the class. In a fourth grade class room, students could choose another great American leader, hero from the 1700s - 1800s. They could research them, write down their research, and present their information to the class. They could make a timeline of their chosen person's life and even choose to dress up like that person when presenting the information.

I would use this book as a class read with 5th grade because they will be learning about this content, which is too high for younger grades. I would use it as a class read so all the students would have their own book and could see the illustrations and how they relate to the text.

I loved this historical fiction book for the fact that it is set up in poetry verses! It is so much fun to read and you're learning about the American Revolution at the same time. Historical fiction is not an easy genre to read because it is not as appealing to students as other genres do, however, this book does the job. I also liked this book for the fact that it can appeal to all ages. It may be difficult for younger readers to read and understand but they can still get the gist and learn some history out of it. This book is a great replacement of text book reading. The illustrations are also beautifully done. It sets the mood and really takes you back in time. The illustrator uses paintings with warm and natural tones. However, the only thing I did not necessarily like about this book was the fact that some of the verses lose their rhythm. It sounds as if the sentence is really dragged out. This occurs more when the story progresses. This could result in attention loss of the students. However, the pictures are still there for the students to look at so if they get lost they can refer back to those. This is a great book to read turing social studies. Teachers can do a lot with learning about not only Paul Revere but also other aspects of the American Revolution.

A classic poem accompanied by beautiful illustrations. As as kid I loved learning about the early stages of the American Revolution and still do today. This book would be great within a unit on the American Revolution to engage students and at higher levels students could analyze the poem, research the author and conduct image analysis on illustrations. ( )