“Listen my children and you shall hear of the famous ride of Paul Revere…” were the lines that proudly bursted from my mouth whenever I recited Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem Paul Revere’s Ride. I first read this poem in What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know, an educational book my mother made us work on during the summer to “keep our brains sharp.” My mother had no way of knowing that an excerpt from a text book covering everything from grammar to earth science would influence my interests and my future so heavily.
I was seven years old in the summer I memorized Paul Revere’s Ride from that book, which isn’t an easy task if you’ve ever heard the poem. Even though it is far from short, the poem is so descriptive and exciting that I instantly became obsessed with Paul Revere, the Revolutionary War, and early national US history. Yes, the poem isn’t the most accurate thing ever written, but Longfellow’s work is the reason I love history to this day.
As a child, I grew up in Northern New Hampshire, but we visited my Nana in central Massachusetts a few times a year. I’ll never forget when my dad told my three siblings and me that we were going to walk the Freedom Trail, see where Paul Revere lived, see the Old North Church, and even see the graves of Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and much more! Yes, apparently I was a dweeb from the start. My mother let me take pictures galore, and I was so proud to bring them to my fourth grade class and show them to my teacher and friends.
In the fifth grade we had a parent’s night and each student was required to have a show-and-tell project to present to the adults. My fellow classmates had normal projects, you know, volcanoes and the like. Me, being the special child that I was, I raced my pet snails in a maze I constructed out of cardboard and construction paper, and I also dressed up as Paul Revere and recited Paul Revere’s Ride to parents passing by. A reporter even took my picture for the town paper. My mother still has the picture, and if I come across it I will certainly share it in this post.
Throughout junior high and high school my love for history continued. I dressed up as founding fathers, once as Benjamin Franklin sharing his personal biography and later as Thomas Jefferson. My mom helped me make a Thomas Jefferson puppet and I sang The Declaration of Independence (as heard on School House Rock) to my class. I also studied art and incorporated history into my work. I created a tribute to Paul Revere in color pencils in high school and later made a map of the Freedom Trail constructing prints I made of my friends and I visiting the different sites around Boston.
“Paul Revere” in color pencil
I ended up majoring in history in my undergrad. I met my husband, a history teacher, in 2007 and our first date was the trails at Lexington and Concord. When we reached the spot where Paul Revere was arrested by British officers I recited Paul Revere’s Ride on the spot as a memoriam to the patriot. My husband said he knew he chose the right person that day. I’m sure if it were anyone else they would have fled the scene immediately! I married my husband five years ago and had a baby last year. Before my baby was born, one of the very first books I bought him was Paul Revere’s Ride. I cannot wait to share my favorite poem, a poem that shaped my life in a lot of ways, with my son, and I really hope he appreciates the poem as much as I did and do.
My husband and my first date at Lexington and Concord.
My son, Sawyer, dressed up as Paul Revere at three months old.
There are so many books that I loved as a child that had a lasting impact on me into my adult life, but nothing compares to the poem that came into my life one day as I was complaining about doing school work during the summer. I am turning 27 in a few weeks so I first read that poem almost 20 years ago. I remember it as if it were yesterday, along with all of the little life’s moments that came about because of it. Books, TV shows, websites, movies and the internet play such influential roles in our lives, and the information we consume as children will impact and shape us into the people we become.
As I was doing the reading for LSC530 this week I was thinking how scary it is as a parent that media can influence our children so strongly. Livingtone (2009) said, “The mass media gave children unprecedented access to the adult world, blurring the adult/child boundary of knowledge” (p. 10). I work in a high school library and every once in a while a student will circumvent the security protection and visit inappropriate websites. I can understand both the optimists and pessimist views, the “Online Opportunities” and “Online Risks” of the internet for children (p. 30). As a parent, I fear the knowledge my son might come across too early in life, but I also look forward to the opportunities he will have not just to consume information, but to create with that information. As a librarian, I think it is so exciting to play a part in a child’s discovery of knowledge and ideas. I feel so honored to be able to recommend books and websites, tv show, websites and games to children and teens that will inspire them and help them learn and create. I cannot think of another job I’d rather do!
Livingtone, S. (2009). Children and the Internet. Malden: Polity Press.
Beyond the Shelves 
Breathtaking writing and charming narrative – so delightful! It’s a powerful testament to the power of parenting, as your intellectual curiosity was ignited by a series of connected informal learning experiences, scaffolded by parents and teachers.