Is There a War on Boys in the Classroom? You Bet Your ‘Treasure Island’ There Is!
By David Churchill Barrow
Once upon a time long ago there was a little boy in a 4th grade classroom staring out the window, not paying much attention to the teacher droning on and on like the adults in a Peanuts cartoon…. Beneath that window and upon the radiator stood a new display of books, and in that display he saw the abridged version of R.L. Stevenson’s Kidnapped (see above). The cover illustration was the coolest depiction of a sword fight the kid had ever seen. He just HAD to read that book. Next came the unabridged version…. Then came Treasure Island…. The kid became hopelessly hooked on history, both fiction and non-fiction. When he played outside at recess he was David Balfour, Jim Hawkins, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, the little drummer boy of Shiloh, and Wyatt Earp.
That kid was me….
