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with significant historical reference.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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