ANN ARBOR, MI--(Marketwire - February 3, 2011) - As the U.S. educational system is buffeted by calls for an overhaul, so people are beginning to think about new ways to teach old concepts.
That's why Jeff Wendt, history buff and co-author, along with his wife and illustrator Lindsay, created the children's book "George and Marty's Awesome Adventures: America's Amazing Birth" (www.libertysseedlings.com), in an effort to introduce the concept of living in a free country whose freedom was born through revolution to a new generation.
"When you don't have a frame of reference for fascism, it's kind of difficult to understand the gift of freedom," said Wendt, a lifelong aviator whose perspective on freedom goes beyond the conceptual. "It's like technology. My generation has always struggled with getting used to the computer age, cell phones that are more like Star Trek communicators and Web sites that show us satellite pictures of our homes. But to kids, these things have always been here. They're like the couch or the chair -- they're pieces of furniture that are normal to use. Freedom works the same way. When you're born into a free country, it's difficult to find the struggle fought by our Founding Fathers as relevant, so it's imperative that we find new ways to introduce our kids to the concept of freedom."
In the Wendt's book, they use a time travel story to bring kids back to the days of the Founding Fathers, which they believe helps hold their interest longer so that they can learn some of the key points of the creation of our nation.
"We shouldn't water down certain key events in the American Revolution, but that doesn't mean we can't be creative in framing how we tell it," he said. "We need to be creative in how we teach history, so we can translate the excitement of our past into relevance in the present, but we need to ensure we don't leave out the blemishes, either. Remember, those who do not read history are typically doomed to repeat it, and we don't want that for our future generations."
About Jeff & Lindsay Wendt
Jeff has been employed in aviation for 20 plus years and has spent the last 15 training pilots in corporate jets. He has become a student of history over the last few years and is the research side of Liberty's Seedlings, LLC.
Contact Information:
Russ Handler
russ@newsandexperts.com