Lessons in history

Genevieve Foster, born in 1893, was known as an illustrator before she turned to writing history for children. Her unique “horizontal” approach centered on using the life of a historical character as a timeline for global events. George Washington’s World (originally published in 1941, then expanded in 1997 by Joanna Foster for Beautiful Feet Books, 357 pp.) was her first attempt, leading to further explorations of the world of Lincoln, Columbus, and Augustus Caesar, among others.

Written in a conversational style, the biography divides Washington’s life into six sections: as a boy, a soldier, a farmer, a commander, a citizen, and a president. Each section begins with a double-page spread of the author’s illustrations of people and events during the same time period. These visual clues help readers keep events in order, but with the Enlightenment winding down, revolutionary fervor heating up, and an industrial age in the wings, there was a lot going on. Thus it’s best to ponder George Washington’s World chapter by chapter.

Foster’s books have been rediscovered by homeschoolers and used as history textbooks. Some of the terms may seem archaic, and some of the narrative overwrought (as when young George is pining for Sally Fairfax), but the treatment of other peoples and nations is respectful and our Founding Fathers are depicted as great men in spite of flaws and foibles.

In Robert Lawson’s Ben & Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos (1939 Little, Brown, 114 pp.) our narrator was born into a family poor as church mice, which was fitting, since they were mice who lived in the vestry of Old Christ Church. Once old enough to relieve his family of one mouth to feed, Amos went in search of his fortune. As fortune would have it, the first warm refuge his nose led him to was occupied by an eccentric gentleman with long gray hair, whom Amos dis­covered hunched over a desk. The man’s odd fur cap looked to be a perfect refuge on a cold winter night. Soon Amos was nestling into the furry depths, snugly perched on the renowned head of Dr. Benjamin Franklin.

Like Foster, Lawson made his name as an illustrator, whose credits included such classics as The Story of Ferdinand. Ben & Me was Lawson’s first excursion into imaginative life stories as told by an animal. Amos paints Franklin as owing much of his success to a certain rodent, whose suggestions included the design of the Franklin stove, improvements to the doctor’s spectacles, and even significant revisions to the Declaration of Independence! Amos is rather full of himself, but his story is told with classic Lawson winsomeness and is worth reading aloud for its elegant style—for the mouse was nothing if not learned. Could have been all those prayer books he devoured as a youngster.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (1943 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 256 pp.) skillfully weaves history around the fictional story of Johnny, a silversmith apprentice who is diligent and exacting in his work, but also ambitious and arrogant. When his master Ephraim Lapham refuses an urgent repair order from John Hancock because it would require him to open his shop on the Sabbath, Johnny undertakes the order himself in secret. However, sabotage by an envious fellow apprentice results in a crucible cracking and spilling molten silver over Johnny’s right hand, putting his career out of reach and the boy himself out on the street, angry and bitter.

But the year was 1773, and momentous events were about to occur in Boston that would change Johnny’s life, his country, and eventually the whole world. Forbes, who knew 18th-century Boston almost as though she’d lived there, recreates the time and the place with breathtaking detail. Her well-­developed protagonist is caught up in revolutionary fervor after a young typesetter befriends him and puts him to work, first delivering newspapers to customers, then messages to the Sons of Liberty.

Momentous events and real-life characters overtake the plot of the novel at the expense of some of the dramatic tension. But as a portrait of a significant town in a pivotal historical moment, Johnny Tremain has few rivals.