Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti and Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina

First an explanation of this tour: The WhoHQ Blog Tour is a review of the books in a children's biography series, now with a companion show called The Who Was? Show on Netflix. I'll describe the books, first, and then the episodes I viewed and how they portrayed the content of the books.

I've always thought of George Washington Carver as "The peanut butter guy," because he's often falsely described as the inventor of peanut butter. Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti will open your eyes to the real story of George Washington Carver, and it's a doozy. Born a slave, taken in by his owners and educated, taught to care for plants and animals and do chores like laundry and sewing, even as a child he was known as a bit of a miracle worker with plants.

He had a burning desire to learn, a sharp mind, and a willingness to work hard to get the education he desired. A scientist, inventor, business owner, and educator, George Washington Carver was an amazing man who dedicated his inventions, his writings, and business ventures to improving the lives of people.

All this and more is in Who Was George Washington Carver? At 105 pages, the book is slim but Gigliotti packed a lot of information between its covers and with a stunning clarity. I was impressed by how much I learned from this little book. Gigliotti gives you a thorough overview of Carver's life and the illustrations add an extra dimension, with images of the places he lived and worked, maps, inventions, and people who were important to him.

Who Was Genghis Khan? by Nico Medina had the same effect on me that Who Was George Washington Carver? had - mind boggled at how much I learned in such a short time. I think I'd just thought of him as some legendary conqueror who went around slaughtering people for the spoils, and that was that. Instead, I learned that by invading other Mongolian tribes on the Steppe, he not only united a people but created a decent society out of one that was formerly a bunch of tribes who invaded each other whenever they needed something.

He introduced wealth sharing and a delay in hunting so that animals had time to grow, allowed freedom of religion, created a written language and a postal service . . . all sorts of things that we might consider modern or progressive were introduced by Genghis Khan.Who Was Genghis Khan? is a single page longer than the bio of George Washington Carver, so they really cram a lot of information between their covers. I didn't know, for example, that Genghis Khan never allowed anyone to paint his portrait or represent him in any other way. So, we have no idea what he looked like; we can only guess based on how other Mongolians looked.

Both highly recommended - I received both of these books for review and I only wish they'd sent me the entire series. The Who Was? series is a great way to introduce children to a variety of important historical characters.

Netflix has a show that serves as a companion to the Who Was? book series called The Who Was? Show and I watched the episode that describes George Washington Carver and Genghis Khan. I admit, I was a little stunned to find it so goofy. I wasn't entirely sure I found it all that educational, either. So, I watched another episode (Pablo Picasso and the Wright Brothers). This time, my husband sat down and watched with me. It was a lot more palatable the second time. Young actors dress up as the characters. They dance, they sing, they tell jokes, and they act out scenes from the lives of the famous characters. Sometimes, they'll show a brief cartoon or have a cartoon character interact with the humans. Point being, I was looking at it all wrong, at first. I was watching from the perspective of an adult who had read the books and was expecting all that information to be crammed into an episode. But, it's geared to kids, of course, and once you know what to expect, it's great.

Watching an episode that was about characters whose biographies I had not read really gave me a good perspective of how much information they managed to impart. Husband also reminded me that our kids watched something similar when they were young: Beekman's World, a science show that was goofy but informative. I didn't remember the fact that it had a huge rat character; I do recall the kids loved it, though, and that's what counts.

Bottom line - I recommend the series, but I'd suggest watching an episode before you read the book, if you plan to do both. Either way, they're both informative. But, the books go into a great deal more detail, of course.


Fiona Friday was moved to Thursday, this week, due to today's book tour: Fiona Fursday

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

HitRECord TV, Season 1 and a Friday Cat

First things first: a description for those unfamiliar with HitRECord. HitRECord.org is a website created by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to which anyone can subscribe. Artists, musicians, illustrators, writers, filmmakers, poets and cartoonists all work together in a collaborative creative effort. HitRECord is responsible for the Tiny Book of Tiny Stories book series (I have read and loved all three and hope they'll publish more, in the future) and the HitRECord production company also has released this TV series, an auditory and visual feast.

Second things second: I have a confession to make. I got Season 1 of HitRECord TV from HarperCollins' Dey Street imprint in late 2014 and hesitated to write about it because I wanted to buy a copy of the season for a friend. He's a blog friend and I couldn't bear the thought that he'd read my gushy review and buy it before I got around to sending it to him. So, I dragged my feet.

Fortunately, Season 1 of HitRECord TV is memorable. The boxed set contains 9 booklets. One of those is a general guide; the rest are books with bits of art much like that in the Tiny Book of Tiny Stories series but with some background information about the episodes, lyrics to songs, and brief blurbs from contributors (illustrators, musicians, composers, etc.) that add a bit of dimension to the episodes. They're not stories in and of themselves but material to accompany the series.

I absolutely loved watching Season 1 of HitRECord TV. There are touching stories, funny skits, illustrated songs and poems, people playing games. Each episode is centered around a particular theme: "Games", "Money", "Trash", "Patterns", "Fantasy", "Space", "The Number 1", and "The Other Side." I had particular favorites amongs those songs, skits, stories and such -- and even favorite episodes. But, in general, I just loved being swept away, listening to the songs, thinking about the topics, singing along, being entertained by this massively creative collaborative effort.

The only thing I dislike about the HitRECord TV, Season 1? The episodes are downloaded to computer. I am old school and absolutely hate watching things on the computer. Plus, I like to have a physical copy of any television series I own. Downloads don't feel entirely real to me; and, I'm not even sure where exactly to locate them on my computer, now that I've watched them and stepped away for a couple months. The download code is on a small piece of paper that falls out when you pull out the booklets. I'm going to tape mine to either the case or that first booklet. It would definitely be much nicer to have this series on DVD.

Otherwise, I have zippo complaints, although I would have personally preferred a single book to a set of booklets. No big deal, though. It works. Highly recommended. I keep thinking "visual and auditory feast" and can't get beyond that description but let me say this . . . it will not only entertain you, HitRECord on TV will make you want to pull out your paint box, sit with your guitar, put pen to paper. It's inspiring.

Also, it's Friday, so have a cat:

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.