The picture says enough, but I can't resist. Make sure you look at the subtitle to Our Children Can Soar. (Click on the photo to see a larger pic.) I Thumbed through Tales of Famous Heroes, and here's a list of some of the individuals highlighted in this book: Rosa Parks, Barack Obama, Sacagawea, Nelson Mandela, Jane Goodall, Neil Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Florence Nightingale, Billie Jean King, Sonia Sotomayor, et al. Guess who's not in the book: George Washington or any of the Founding Fathers. Perhaps the authors would claim that this is not a book about famous Americans (a reasonable claim, in that the authors' previous book, Tales of Famous Americans, does include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, et al.) But wait, they do include. . . . Paul Revere? Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Paul Revere. (Who doesn't like a guy who uses a woman's underwear, "still warm from her body," to quiet the oarlocks of his boat.) But no Thomas Jefferson, founding father and author of the Declaration of Independence? I wasn't aware that Billie Jean King has had a greater, more heroic impact on the world. Also, doesn't a hero have to actually do something? Typically a hero sacrifices something to make his/her impact. Rosa Parks? I get it. Mahatma Ghandi? I'm with you. Sonia Sotomayor? What the?!! (I wonder if the authors are on the same committee that awarded our illustrious president––also included in the book––the Nobel Prize? And to think, when he got the award he had even less accomplishments then he does now; unless you count dismantling the U.S. economy as an accomplishment.) Oh, and don't overlook Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow, always at the top of my list of redistributive heroes.
As for the Kennedy books. . . . I don't even know where to begin; besides, I'm out of Pepto Bismol.
