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The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling
by Rachel Gathercole
ISBN-13: 978-1-60065-107-6
ISBN-10: 1-60065-107-0 

"Rachel Gathercole has provided the most complete answer to the socialization question that I have ever seen. Homeschoolers, you need this book!" —Mike Smith, President, Home School Legal Defense Association.

"The definitive book regarding the socialization question surrounding homeschooling." --Foreword Magazine        (click here to read full review)

Click here to order this book from Mapletree  

Click here to order this book from Amazon

Review of King George—What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About the American Revolution by Steve Sheinkin

by Rachel Gathercole

Let me start by saying that I don’t “do” history. Not my thing. Never liked it in school, never liked it as an adult. And not my kids’ thing, either. Or at least, so I thought.

I received a review copy of Steve Sheinkin’s book, King George—What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About the American Revolution. Unwittingly revealing my deep-seated belief that history is boring (and perhaps prejudicing my kids in advance), I asked my kids to humor me by reading it with me so that I could include their reactions in my review. (After all, what good was my review of a book for kids, I thought, if I didn’t hear the kids’ opinion first?)

Fortunately for my children, Steve Sheinkin’s obvious love of history is contagious. Combine that with the fact that he clearly understands and respects children, and the result is a book that my kids loved, that reads like a novel, and that was as entertaining and educational for me as it was for my children. Who knew American history could be so much fun? 

In fact, I believe I can safely say my 13-year-old has acquired an interest in American history for the first time because of Sheinkin’s book.  My 9-year-old has gone beyond that to memorize pretty much everything in it.  And it has sparked her interest in finding out more. At least, that’s my interpretation; last week we went to the library to check out some books, and I discovered her searching the online catalog for other books about the American Revolution, many of which she checked out and read on her own. She has become a regular American Revolution buff.  And we were also inspired to get and read the Declaration of Independence and even the U.S. Constitution. We had tried to read the Declaration before, but this time, all of a sudden it made sense.

That’s because Sheinkin does two things especially well in King George. First, he has a natural knack for highlighting what is fun and amusing about the material (probably because he so clearly knows and loves the subject well) and making it accessible. Secondly, and just as importantly, he offers a much bigger picture of the Revolution than one typically finds in textbooks or children’s books. Although he does offer specific facts, such as dates, places, names, and so on, these are not the focus of the book.  Instead Sheinkin tells the Revolution as a story, showing how one event led to another, the personalities, motives, and quirks of the players involved, how the events felt and were experienced by ordinary people, and how and why things played out as they did. (Ironically, this actually makes the dates and places easier to remember. But Sheinkin, a reformed textbook writer, probably knew that, too.)

Still—it just can’t go unsaid:  this book is not just for kids!

I have personally learned more about the American Revolution from reading this one book with my kids than I learned in all my years of schooling, including AP American History in high school and Honors American History in college. I feel I have a basic understanding of our country’s founding now, for the first time in my life. Yet at the same time, the book is a light and easy read, and not long. Which is, of course, one of the reasons I actually read it while I have never read a history book intended for adults.  If only Sheinkin’s books had been around when I was a kid, I might have already been a history buff. Fortunately, it’s never too late!

Be warned, though: if you're looking for nuanced thinking that challenges traditional, American-centered interpretations of history, you won't find it here  While Sheinkin breaks away from the mold in his style, accessibility, and to a certain extent content (in other words, he tells the Revolution in a way that is much more accessible and entertaining to kids than average and includes some content that is amusing but would not be considered important enough for a school text), he does not endeavor to deviate from the norm in terms of overall interpretation of events.  The story that is told is the traditional American view of history: America is the good guy. King George was wrong, George Washington was right.  I’m not saying I agree or disagree with this point of view. Rather I am saying that there is nothing controversial about this book, nothing that leads the reader to rethink assumptions in any significant way. With that said, I recognize and accept that rethinking history, reinterpreting events, and so on, is not the goal of this book. It sets out to reach, entertain, and educate children with a good, detailed, accessible overview of the American Revolution in terms of what happened, the personalities involved, and the hows and whys that tie all of the events together. And that it does very well. 

What else can I say? King George is a winner --fun, engaging, easy to understand, and totally comprehensive. Our whole family was eager to read Sheinkin’s other American history books on the Civil War and the Wild West, which are equally great. 

But don’t take my word for it.

The following is a verbatim quote I overheard my nine-year-old daughter saying the other day to a friend on the phone:

 “Have you read the book King George—What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About the American Revolution? It’s really awesome. You need to read it.”

Yeah, I think that about says it all.

(King George: What Was His Problem? and Sheinkin's other books are available from Amazon and other booksellers.)

Copyright© 2006 Rachel Gathercole. All rights reserved.
Author photographs by Joanna Wilson