As a homeschool mom, I have LOTS of books. It seems to be just one of the characteristics of a homeschool family. Although, of course, non homeschool families sometimes have big bookcases too. I think for the most part, though, if you don’t homeschool, your kids get their books from school. Anyway, I always like to review a new children’s book with the kids. The kids and I have just had the opportunity to review Abraham’s Journey from Inspiring the American Dream.
It’s about a boy named Abraham and his family. His parents have lost their jobs recently and have no money to buy Christmas presents. Saddened by this, and wanting to help out his family, he sets out trying to seek out odd jobs to earn money for Christmas for his family. First of all… what a great kid! I love that my kids are reading about a boy that isn’t looking to blame anyone or try to figure out how to get a hand out. His family needs money, so he is trying to find jobs to earn it!
What he does is write a text asking if anyone knows about any odd jobs he can do. Well, instead of getting a text back, he gets a virtual visit from Abraham Lincoln! Abraham Lincoln (whom the book refers to as “The Wise Old Man”) offers to show Abraham how he can save Christmas for his family as well as teaching him about the American dream. All Abraham has to do is touch the wise old man’s hand and he will show him.
So, Abraham touches his hand and is now traveling through cyber space. He visits many people who each teach him something about himself and about what it takes to be successful and achieve the American Dream. The first two people he met were Martin Luther King, Jr. and Normal Rockwell. They helped him realize what it means to have a dream and to use his talents to make it happen. And in that meeting, he realized he had a talent for painting!
He continued on his journey and met more people, whom I will keep a secret so I don’t spoil it for you, but each one taught him something else about what it takes to make his dream come true.
So, first he learned he needed to have a dream… an idea, if you will. He then needed to figure out what talents he had to make his dream come true. He also learned that just because you have dreams, talent and work hard, that doesn’t just put your goals in your lap on a silver platter. You also need to have inner strength, courage, willingness to take a risk, coming up with new approaches to old ideas, and a platform for people to see your ideas (like the internet).
Lastly, he learned that there is more to the American Dream that just getting money. You can also help others achieve their dream too, by giving them the tools they need (like education).
Now, back to needing money for Christmas… of course, this book does have a happy ending and Abraham is able to surprise his family with presents under the tree at Christmas AND they are also able to help out some other needy people at Christmas, too!
I really enjoyed this book and the kids did too. We used it as a read aloud with my 9 and 11 year olds. It was great, because they didn’t know who all the people were that Abraham encountered and were able to learn a little about them. Just by reading the story, you don’t necessarily learn about or know who the people are, but at the end of the book they have all the people listed with a little biography of their life. Some are still living and some were not, but all have achieved what we would call the “American Dream”.
Information at a glance:
what is it? a children’s book about the American Dream and how to achieve it called Abraham’s Journey
For Whom”? Children ages 7 to 12 (could be read to more mature 6 year olds)
How much? $14.99 You can also get it for kindle on amazon for $9.99
Again, I think this is great book. It is a wonderful way to introduce your children to what it takes to achieve your goals.
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