My Kindle Fire has become one of my favorite tools for homeschooling! I love finding books, unit studies, and pdf documents. The girls enjoy it as well because of the apps, but I limit their playtime. While I’m happy to have learning apps, I have hoped they would enjoy reading. I was very excited for my daughter to read Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream, by Kathleen and Robert K. Basmadjian, written for students ages 7-12.
This unique children’s book combines beautiful illustrations reminiscent of traditional comic books and an engaging story. You can purchase either the book version ($14.95) or the Kindle or i-Pad version ($9.99). While the story takes place during present day, historical figures provide an unexpected twist. The story revolves around a young boy, Abraham, trying to help his parents who have both lost their jobs. With the help of historical figures Abraham discovers what the American Dream means and is inspired to find a way to help his family.
Rose and Zoe, our kitty cat, snugged in for some reading one afternoon with this book. She eagerly jumped at the chance to read on Mommy’s Kindle and settled into her beanbag chair. She enjoyed the story. When I asked her what her favorite part was she said she really liked the illustrations and that Abraham Lincoln was in it as well.
The idea behind this book is so many in America have lost their hope in what is possible. We used to call it, “Living the American Dream.” The dream used to be taught and encouraged in schools. Now children are often taught America isn’t as great as we were once told. The evils of our history are emphasized while the triumphs and events we can be proud of are diminished. The authors of this books are hoping to instill once more the ideals of what “The American Dream” is stood for.
The American Dream includes aspects of faith, courage, imagination, innovation, compassion, self-sacrifice, and so much more. In spite of those commonalities, it always looks different for each individual…
We want our girls to see they can do more than expected too. I appreciate the author’s desire to reteach this to our youth and inspire them to reach higher.
At the end of the book is a list of definitions and mini biographies of each historical figure in case students haven’t studied them yet. I really like this feature because my daughter, for instance, had only studied about Abraham Lincoln. She had heard the other’s names, but didn’t really know much about them yet.
I asked Rose if she’d like to read another story like this one and she enthusiastically said, “Yes!” That is enough of an endorsement for me!
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