Monday, December 17, 2018

Review of "Mom’s the Word," by Howie Schneider


Review of
Mom’s the Word, by Howie Schneider

Five out of five stars
 It only takes a few minutes for the reader to conclude that the best use of this book is as a source of cartoons with a historical message for teachers of history. Most of the cartoons will be incomprehensible to the reader with only a rudimentary knowledge of history. Each of them has a mother referencing a child and making a comment with significant historical reference.
 For example, the cartoon on page 91 has the caption, “The reason your father and I spell things out is because we don’t want you to know what we are talking about.” The cartoon is about a young Noah Webster, the creator of the line of famous dictionaries. On page 87 there is the caption, “Thomas, listen, it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!”  This cartoon references Thomas A. Edison,  the inventor of the light bulb.
 A great source of relevant cartoons for classes in history, this is a fun book to read. Many of the cartoons could serve as test questions if the name of the person being referenced is deleted.

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