Students In Time: Book One: 1585-1781
Florida author Terry Shepherd served in the corporate world and now is a full time writer, penning the spectrum of detective fiction from kids to adults: THE WATERFORD DETECTIVES series for kids, THE CORONA RIPPER for teens and YA, the JESSICA RAMIREZ THRILLERS for adults, and now a new book for the young set – STUDENTS IN TIME: Book One: 1585 – 1781, this time accompanied by co-author Jae Rose and illustrator Leo Brown.
In this excellent adjunct to teaching history to the fourth grade level, Terry explains, ‘When scientists revealed the secrets of time travel in the late twenty-fist century, they agreed that it should be used to study history and not to influence it. In fact, they discovered that once something has happened in the present, no visitors from the future can change it.’ As teacher Ms. Keefe explains to her students Maria and Hudson, ‘The International Institute for Temporal History is a central resource for historians everywhere…Temporal is another word for time. Even with a machine to help us break that barrier, we still have a limited amount of time to do our work. The Institute decides what research projects get to use the time machine. Thankfully, they know how important it is for youngsters to learn about the past as witnesses.’
With that launch, Ms Keefe, Hudson and Maria are off on a visit to the past, beginning with 1585 where they meet Sir Walter Raleigh, deciphering the appearance of Queen Elizabeth’s court, wearing clothes o the period, learning the English language as spoken in Shakespeare’s time, hearing from Raleigh himself about the New World, Native Indians, and European history. Then they time travel to the New World 1587 to visit Raleigh, NC, Plymouth Massachusetts interacting with the colonists and Native Americans, Jamestown, VA – the first permanent settlement in 1619, Pilgrims and Puritans and the founding of New England, 1775 and the Middle Colonies founding, the events leading up to the American Revolution (and the Sugar Act), Abigail Adams and the Battle of Bunker Hill, Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, and while continuing their conversations relating to contemporary times and other distractions, they witness and interact with each other, their teacher and the time travel expert Dr. Aldrich, and a sparkling way to study history.
Discovering Terry Shepherd’s work is a complete pleasure, and now participating in this creative concept of learning history at the fourth grade level, completely involving the reader as the teacher and student react to not only the period, but also the preparation in clothing and dress to ‘fit in’ as they learn, makes history lessons a complete joy. This is a very successful concept and book – Very highly recommended! Grady Harp, December 21
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
