About a year ago, I spoke in my wife's fifth grade class about the Lincoln assassination. She gave me a sheet containing the information that the school district requires them to pass on to their students. It basically read, " Booth shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre." So I told the full story of what happened on April 14, 1865. Including the kidnapping plot, those involved, the trial, and the manhunt for Booth. The class loved it, but I was shocked that this was the first time many of them had heard any of the actual details. After the class I complained to my wife about how little time teachers have to fully teach this subject. She challenged me to write a book for her class, It was a "put up or shut up" moment. I decided to write a comic book, or graphic novel styled book. I felt that the best way to get a child interested is by putting a picture in their mind. I was always a visual reader. Growing up I loved reading the Classics in comic book form, which I truly believe made me a lover of books. I also have a wonderful copy of The Divine Comedy. On the left hand pages it is written in Italian and the right is translated to English. I decided to write this book using a similar method. The left hand would be in prose, and the right would be in comic book fashion. I figured for the higher reading students the detailed information would be nice, while the comic style could be read by all. Stories of such significance should be taught with excitement. My goal with this and future novels, is to make learning about history a new experience for children by taking a new approach. Combining the storytelling of a short novel with the sequential artwork found in comics and graphic novels to create images to reinforce what was just read. Children are visual. I believe children learn much more when they can visualize what they are reading.
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