GreenLeaf Press News

From the same team at National Geographic who brought us Mayflower 1620 and 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, comes an important book about the FIRST permanent English colony in North America, Jamestown. The story of Plymouth is told and retold in the children’s books and history texts. Jamestown always seems to come in as an afterthought, or footnote.

There are many reasons for that, some of them logical, some simply prejudice. Plymouth is in New England. New England has dominated the school movement in America, ergo. . . The north won the war and gets to write the textbooks.

There are other, more logical reasons. The location of the Plymouth colony still survives, and has been rebuilt as an interpretive, living history museum. The location of Jamestown was thought to be lost, swallowed by the meandering James River. But in 1994, the original site of the Jamestown settlement was discovered on a small rise on the banks of the river. It had not crumbled into the water, after all. Over the past 14 years, over a million artifacts have been recovered, along with the foundations of the fort. This book includes photographs of the site and the recovery and restoration work, along with some arresting photographs of re-enactors taking the part of the early colonists.

The other reason for the relative neglect suffered by the history of Jamestown is that its story is even darker and more depressing than the struggles of Plymouth. At Plymouth, half the settlers died in the first winter. At Jamestown, three-fourths of all those who arrived between 1607 and 1625 were dead before 1626. At Jamestown, the conflict between settlers and Indians began early and never abated. There were murderous attacks by both sides.

But there is a positive side to Jamestown as well. Like Plymouth it is a story of perseverance and courage and independence. Although the settlers began with all of the class distinctions of English society, they quickly learned that in the struggle for survival, all men must labor side by side. A certain egalitarian spirit quickly developed.

The chapters in this book have the following titles:

• Strangers in a Strange Land
• A Native American Empire
• The Dying Times
• Green Gold
• Winners Take All
• A New Look at Jamestown

To adequately understand the history of the founding of the English colonies in America, it is important to understand Jamestown, as well as Plymouth.

National Geographic has done an admirable job of presenting a balanced account of that colony named for King James I of England – the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1607: A New Look at Jamestown is a hardback, 48 pages. The price is $17.95, direct from Greenleaf Press.

- Rob Shearer,
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

I am, in general, a big fan of the DK books. Their Eyewitness series, with 160+ titles now, is an excellent resource for young readers (approximately 8-16) on a wide variety of topics. I’m busily adding all of the Eyewitness books into their own category in the Greenleaf online store. But beyond the Eyewitness books, with their museum quality photography, DK has also done some excellent development in traditional illustrated children’s books.

Parents, teachers, and students who will be tracing the history and connectivity of peoples and places from ancient through medieval and modern times will find the following two books very intriguing. They will definitely help your students to understand how the past still influences and is visible in the present.

The first title is A Street Through Time, by Dr. Anne Millard and Steve Noon. It is billed as a 12,000-year walk through history. The book focuses on a location somewhere in the island of Britain, along a river and presents a detailed over-sized two-page spread which depicts what the place looked like at fourteen key periods of history. The first picture is labeled 10,000 BC. We can pass lightly over this one, since it’s largely guess-work. The second scene is 2,000 BC and shows farmers who have constructed a simple village. By 600 BC, this village has passed into the iron age and grown in population. On a nearby hilltop is an iron-age fort similar to those found throughout southern Britain. In AD 100 our village has become an outpost of the Roman Empire. There is a Roman bath, a Roman temple, and a Roman market. In AD 600, things have slipped backwards. The Romans are gone, their buildings are in ruins. But the place by the river is still inhabited. In 900 AD things have gotten both better and worse. There is a stone church and new thatched residences, but there is also the threat of Viking raids. Our scene shows such a raid in progress. In 1208 AD, we have reached the high middle ages. The village has grown a bit. There is a castle on the hill now. In 1400 AD the village has turned into a town. There is a new stone church, new town walls, and a new stone bridge. The townsmen are prospering. In 1500 AD, the plague strikes. It’s not a pretty scene. The next scene is labeled 1600’s finds our town caught in the conflict between King and Parliament – civil war in fact. Some of the houses are burning, the castle on the hill is under siege, and there are soldiers marching in the fields outside the town walls. The 1700s are much more prosperous, even elegant. The residences along the river have been rebuilt. The castle is in ruins, but there is a Georgian estate constructed beside it. The 1800s show the effect of the industrial revolution. The effect on the town is mixed. Some prosper, but many of the workers are poor (grim times). The last two scenes show our familiar street in the late 1800s and today. The church is still there – a landmark to help us orient ourselves. The castle is in ruins, but has become a tourist attraction.

Among the other fun things to do with this book is to play a sort of “Where’s Waldo?” game. The illustrator has hidden a time traveler, named Henry Hyde in each scene. He keeps the same costume through the ages, and you can recognize him by the goggles on his head, his scarf, and long duster.

There are also text cues in the sentences printed in the margins that direct the reader to find particular features. A teacher or parent could use these very effectively with a child. An older student will enjoy the challenges on their own.

The book is oversize, 14″ x 10″, making each 2-page spread a full 28″ wide.

A Street Through Time is a hardback, 32 pages, with full-color illustrations throughout. It is available for $17.99 direct from Greenleaf.

The second DK book is constructed on the same pattern as A Street Through Time, but takes a broader view. A City Through Time is billed as “The Story of a City – from Ancient Colony to vast Metropolis.” The setting for this book is somewhere in Europe, at the mouth of a river on the Mediterranean coast – though the precise location is never specified. Rather than give an identical view for each snapshot in time, the depiction of the city in these spreads is a bit more varied. This allows for a more detailed examination of particular features and buildings. The story begins with a Greek colony in 550 BC (with a separate spread on the Greek temple), then continues to Roman civitas (again with a separate spread showing the public baths in great detail). There is a view of the medieval city (with detail on the castle) and then the more modern industrial port (and railroad station) and the steel and glass modern city (with a cutaway view of a skyscraper turned on it’s side).

This one is also oversize, 14″ by 10″ making each 2-page spread a full 28″ wide.

A City Through Time is a hardback, 32 pages, with full-color illustrations throughout. It is available for $17.99 direct from Greenleaf.

- Rob Shearer
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

For those of us who are book-lovers (and if you’re not, one wonders why you’re reading this blog!), this is a delight. It is billed as “the story of writing – from ancient picture scripts to medieval manuscripts and modern printed books.”

As with all the Eyewitness Books, this one is a visual feast. There are 25 two-page spreads, each illustrated with photographs of museum-quality artifacts. There is a bit of overview text, and then lengthy captions underneath each photograph describing the item in detail. The spreads are titled:

Book, like all the other Eyewitness Books is a hardback, 64 pages, with a price of $15.99. It can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press by clicking here.

- Rob Shearer
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

This is a remarkable, and hopeful children’s book about the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s. The book tells the story of two lives, in simple, clear text and powerful illustrations. The first biography is of a young black boy growing up in Atlanta. He is constantly confronted with painful reminders of the injustice and prejudice directed towards the members of his race. The second biography is of a young Jewish boy growing up in Poland. He too is constantly confronted with painful reminders of the injustice and prejudice directed towards the members of his race.

In the 1960s, the young boy from Atlanta had grown up to be a Baptist preacher like his father. He led a movement to end the injustices of racial segregation and prejudice. That story, too, is told in the book. When Martin organized a protest march in Alabama, his followers were confronted by police with dogs and clubs. Martin issued a national call for all God’s children to come to Alabama and join the march.

The Jewish boy from Poland, who had emigrated to America and become an influential rabbi, was among those who answered the call. On March 21, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. prayed together. And then they marched together.

In January of 1968, Martin Luther King spoke at Abraham Heschel’s 61^st birthday party. In April of 1968, Abraham Heschel spoke at Martin Luther King’s funeral.

This is a simple, yet powerful book with a message that parents should be encouraged to teach their children. Published in May of 2008, forty years after the death of Martin Luther King.

I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. In early April of 1968, I turned thirteen years old. In late April, Martin Luther King was assassinated. It was, to say the least, a terrible year. In Atlanta, my family had been proud of Dr. King, and we mourned his death. We were proud that Atlanta had a reputation as “the city too busy to hate.” The ideals of the Declaration and Constitution have taken a long time to be fully realized. Teaching our children about the ideals and the struggle is an important part of their education.

The book is a hardback, 40 pages, full color throughout. The text is written on a 3^rd-4^th grade reading level, but the book will work very well read out loud to younger children as well. As Good as Anybody is available directly from Greenleaf Press for $16.99.

• Rob Shearer
  Director, Schaeffer Study Center
  Publisher, Greenleaf Press

It is with great pride that Greenleaf Press announces the publication of the Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Literature ($19.95) by Cyndy Shearer

For over ten years, Cyndy has been teaching high school literature classes in home school tutorial settings. For the past five years, she has been teaching all four years of western literature at the Schaeffer Study Center, in Mt. Juliet. We are very pleased to be able to publish the second volume in her four year syllabus. The Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Literature joins the already published Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Literature
($18.95). The Greenleaf Guides for years three & four (Early Modern Lit and Modern Lit) are under development – meaning Cyndy is already teaching them and refining the material.

Like the Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Literature, the Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Literature takes an inductive approach to the study of selected outstanding literary compositions. Rather than studying short excerpts from dozens of possible works, Cyndy has selected a representative set of selections for close study. Students are led by a series of questions that help them to read and understand the text, and then to reflect on the larger questions being dealt with and the authors’ worldviews. A high school student who completes these two literary studies will have a superior background and preparation for the study of modern literature – either in high school or college.

Beginning with Bede and Anglo-Saxon poetry, the Guide (with wry observations by Cyndy) takes students through Beowulf, Gawain, Chaucer, & Hamlet. A worldview bonus is the conclusion of the course with a study of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead – Tom Stoppard’s raucous verbal pyrotechnics on the themes of fate and death which uses two of the minor characters from Hamlet who get caught up in Shakespeare’s play and then try to puzzle out what the intrigues of Denmark mean when all the Shakespearean characters have left the stage.

The text is designed for an instructor (parent, teacher, or tutor) and student who are reading the text together. Some students may be able to complete this study on their own, but the best experiences will be the discussion of themes and issues with another reader. You don’t have to be an expert in medieval lit in order to teach this course – you just have to be willing to do the reading along with your student(s).

Cyndy is imminently well qualified to teach and write on these themes. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Queens College (she graduated in three years and wrote an astonishing honors thesis on the poetry of T.S.Eliot). She has an MA in English from the University of Virginia, where she studied (and wrote) modern poetry with the gifted poet, Gregory Orr. Cyndy has been homeschooling the Shearer children since 1985, having graduated five from high school – and with six more still at home. She co-founded the Francis Schaeffer Study Center in Mt. Juliet with her husband Rob in 2003.

Along with the Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Literature, Greenleaf Press is pleased to make available a complete study package which includes the Guide and all six of the texts selected by Cyndy for her course on Medieval Literature. The texts include:

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by the Venerable Bede
Beowulf, trans. Rebsamen
Gawain, trans. Tolkien
Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard
The Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Literature, by Cyndy Shearer

The Medieval Lit Study Package is available for $70.91 (regular retail - $78.70)

Also available from Greenleaf Press is the Ancient Lit Study Package which contains:

The Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Literature ($18.95)
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Sandars translation)
The Odyssey (Robert Fitzgerald translation)
The Oedipus Cycle (Robert Fitzgerald translation)
Antigone by Anouilh (Barbara Bray translation)

The Ancient Lit Study Package
is available for $61.08 (regular retail - $67.85)

Both the Greenleaf Guide to Ancient Literature and the Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Literature are also available as downloadable eBooks, making it easy for a parent/teacher/tutor to provide the text to their student, while using the eBook to follow along on their computer.

Needless to say, I highly recommend these high school literature courses for homeschoolers, classical schools, and any high school program that wants a thoughtful rich study of the history of Western Literature.

• Rob Shearer
  Director, Schaeffer Study Center
  Publisher, Greenleaf Press

By popular demand, we have restocked and resumed selling Anna Botsford Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study and all 18 of the Audubon Field Guides.For those who want to do nature study (especially for those inspired by Charlotte Mason), these are invaluable resources.

The late Anna Botsford Comstock was the founder and first head of the Department of Nature Study at Cornell University and the first woman to be appointed to the Cornell faculty. Written originally for elementary school teachers, this book is as valid and helpful today as it was when it was first written in 1911.

Here’s an accolade to her from the Conservation Hall of Fame at the National Wildlife Federation:

“Named one of America’s 12 greatest living women in a 1923 survey by the League of Women Voters, Anna Botsford Comstock was a conservationist before most people knew what the word meant.

Comstock is widely recognized as the mother of nature education. Along with her husband, John, whom she met while she was a student at Cornell University, she formed the Comstock Publishing Company. Its motto: “Nature through Books.” In 1911 the company published Anna’s 900-page Handbook of Nature Study. The now-famous sourcebook for teachers went through 24 editions and was translated into eight languages.

In her book, Comstock emphasized the rewards of direct observation. She was ahead of her time in stressing the importance of natural relationships that work to form what we now call an ecosystem. The point of her approach to nature study, she said, was to “cultivate the child’s imagination, love of the beautiful, and sense of companionship with life out-of-doors.”

Comstock was instrumental in launching a pilot nature study program - the first of its kind in the country - in the schools of Westchester County, New York. In time, the program grew into a nationwide teacher-education program administered by Cornell University and other colleges.

By encouraging instructors to take their students outside to learn, and then helping them see the relationship between people and the natural world, Anna Botsford Comstock left her mark on countless generations.”

Similarly, the 18 Audubon Field Guides are among the best nature resources ever produced. First released over 30 years ago, they are still magnificent. Each is over 800 pages, and each has 200+ color photographs to aid in identification. There are guides on Birds, Trees, Wildflowers, Mushrooms, Insects, Seashells, Rocks, Fossils, and Weather. These are books that we still consult regularly, 20 years after having first purchased them.

The Handbook of Nature Study is a paperback, 887 pages, available direct from Greenleaf Press for $26.00.

Most of the Audubon Field Guides sell for $19.95. A few have been more recently updated and reprinted and sell for $20.95 or $21.95.

• Rob Shearer
  Publisher, Greenleaf Press
  Director, Schaeffer Study Center

“Political correctness, at its heart, is the effort to dissolve the foundation on which American and European culture has been built. It has been a demolition project: undermine Western civilization in whatever way possible, and build a brave new world from the rubble.”

“Multiculturalism has nothing to do with genuine love for natives of the Australian outback or the monks of Tibet. It is an effort to crowd out our own cultural traditions. Radical secularization – in the name of “separation of church and state” – aims to burn our religious roots. Public education, purveying convenient untruths about our past – the Middle Ages were miserable, the ancients were simpletons, the church is oppressive – has sought to rob us of our heritage. Misrepresentations of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the last two hundred years serve to create an illusion of unvarying progress made possible by abandoning the old ways. And that is the central myth that justifies the continued discarding of our religious, intellectual, and moral traditions.”

“Once our culture is untethered from Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem – once we’ve forgotten about or dismissed Moses, Plato, and Jesus – then the PC platoons in academia, government, and the media hope to steer the ship of culture to new shores.”

“Because political correctness is a project of destruction, the message has not always been consistent. Either Shakespeare was a subversive, closeted homosexual, or he was an ignorant chauvinist. Either Jesus was a non-judgmental hippie, or he was a preacher of hate. But this much has been consistent: anything that reeks of the West is therefore politically incorrect and must be denigrated or condemned.”

“For those of us who love the West, it’s a daunting battle. The other side has the mainstream media, the Ivy League, the political classes, and a lot more money. Thankfully, on our side, we’ve got thousands of years of history and some pretty big guns – with names like Aristotle, Augustine, Burke, and Eliot.”

“The bad ideas touted today as revolutionary and enlightened are hardly new; the West’s great minds have battled relativism, atheism, materialism, and State-worship for millennia. The great ideas can hold their own against anything today’s most renowned Women’s Studies professor can devise.”

• Anthony Esolen, Professor of English at Providence College
  from the Preface to The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization

I really can’t sum it up any better than Prof. Esolen. If you know a college student taking Western Civ, you should buy them this book. If you plan to teach your own children Western Civ, you should buy yourself this book. Paperback, 340 pages, available directly from Greenleaf Press for $19.95.

• Rob Shearer
  Publisher, Greenleaf Press
  Director, Schaeffer Study Center

In honor of Independence Day:

George vs. George: The American Revolution as seen from Both Sides, by Rosalyn Schanzer. It’s rare for a children’s book in the US to give any consideration to the British position on the rebellion in the colonies. Schanzer has the perfect hook to start her book – the similarities between George Washington of Virginia and George III of England. George III was 22 when he succeeded his grandfather as King in 1760. George Washington was slightly older (he was 28 in 1760) but his upbringing, as an English gentleman in the colonies was remarkably similar to King George’s in England. From the similarities in their personal lives, Schanzer then examines how government worked in England and in the Colonies and then reviews the controversy over taxes in the colonies from 1764-1770. Finally, she shows how George vs. George came into direct conflict in 1774-1775 over the blockade of Boston and the attempt to disarm the colonists and seize their guns at Lexington & Concord. She gives a detailed comparison of the British forces vs. the Rebel forces and then gives a good overview of the Tides of War 1776-1783. There are two final sections on what each George did after the war. Washington went on to be President of course, and George III ruled as King of England for 60 years, dying in 1820. Paperback, 60 pages, $6.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

Farmer George Plants a Nation, by Peggy Thomas.. A delightful book that shows us an overlooked side of George Washington. Washington was the owner of a substantial plantation of Virginia and devoted most of his life to managing it, improving it, tinkering with methods and machines to improve his crops. In many ways, he might be described as man who spent his life farming, with a few interludes where he dabbled in politics and military command. The book begins with Washington as a young man who has just inherited his older brother’s plantation, Mt. Vernon (named for the British admiral under whom his brother had served). Washington orders books on farming from England and then throws himself into the study of farming in general, and the characteristics of his own land and climate in particular. One of his first innovations was a combination plow/tiller/harrow that reduced the time and effort needed to sow his fields with barley. Over the years, no matter where he was, Washington thoughts always turned to Mt. Vernon. He wrote home asking for news, and giving instructions for projects he wanted carried forward. The period from 1781 to 1787 was perhaps his happiest. The war with Britain was over, and he was able to spend his days uninterrupted tending Mt. Vernon. During the eight years that he served as President, Washington kept Mt. Vernon close to his heart. From the presidential desk in New York, he designed new barns and new machinery. It is characteristic of his life, that his last act, in December of 1799 was to ride out and check on his fields. Hardback, 40 pages, $17.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

Duel! Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words,
by Dennis Brindell Fradin. An unlikely topic for a children’s book, but an important and jarring event from early in United States history. Hamilton and Burr had both served as officers on George Washington’s staff. Hamilton was appointed by Washington as the first Secretary of the Treasury. Burr was elected Vice President in 1800 on the winning ticket with Thomas Jefferson. Both men had difficult childhoods (a fact poignantly referenced in the book’s opening pages). Hamilton was orphaned at 13 on the Caribbean island of Nevis. Burr was orphaned at two in Newark, New Jersey. Near the end of his term as vice president, Burr ran for governor of New York. Hamilton opposed him and when Burr lost, he blamed Hamilton for having started malicious rumors that blackened his name. He challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton accepted the challenge. The drawings of the two men rowing across the Hudson, facing each other at twenty paces, aiming, and firing are sobering and compelling. Each fired one shot. Burr was unscathed, but Hamilton was fatally wounded. This is a fascinating look at one of the less savory moments in our political history. The book makes the point that after the duel, Burr was disgraced – his future in politics destroyed. The book affords an excellent opportunity to talk with children about anger, forgiveness, and the terrible consequences of rash deeds. Hardback, 40 pages, $16.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

My Name is York,
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk. One of the fascinating details of the Lewis and Clark expedition is the inclusion in the party of Captain Clark’s black slave, York. With simple, understated text, Van Steenwyk imagines what the voyage of exploration would have looked like through York’s eyes. The color illustrations by Bill Farnsworth and arresting and compelling. They capture the tension between a new world and a new country dedicated to freedom that still tolerates the continuation of slavery. Paperback, 32 pages, $7.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis & Clark
by Rosalyn Schanzer. Schanzer takes her text form the Journals of Lewis and Clark, selecting the most noteworthy, daring, arresting incidents they experienced along the way. She takes the diary entries and illustrates the events that they describe. The result is an adventure book, all the more compelling because it is true. Paperback, 48 pages, $7.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

Gold Fever! Tales from the California Gold Rush, by Rosalyn Schanzer. To prepare for writing and illustrating this book, Schanzer visited every California gold rush historical site she could find. She took more than 600 photographs of everything from gold nuggets to saloons in order ot make her art as accurate and flavorful as possible. With skill and humor Rosalyn brings historical characters vividly to life. The adventures of the 49ers, whether they traveled by land or by sea make some tall tales sound tame. Paperback, 48 pages, $7.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

Have a happy (and safe) Fourth of July celebration! (I always enjoy the fireworks!)

• Rob Shearer
  Publisher, Greenleaf Press
  Director, Schaeffer Study Center