Barb’s Burblings

One of my favorite charities is DonorsChoose. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a website where teachers submit requests for money for specific projects for their classes. You search for one you like and give whatever amount suits you. I usually give to projects involving history and/or theater. (One project was for kids to see plays, one of which was about Jackie Robinson. Total win!) And if you’re the one who completes a project, you get thank-you letters from the students, pictures, and a note from the teacher. It’s fun. Plus, it totally breaks down exactly where your money is going and there are charts of where you’ve donated (for example, I’ve given exclusively to high poverty schools, and mostly grades 3-5). You can search by topic or location or highest need or projects that are close to completion. Anyway. It’s cool.

I gave money a while ago to a teacher who wanted to buy books about the American Revolution for her students, one of which was My Brother Sam Is Ded, which I read in elementary school and still own. I recently got the thank-you notes. They were all very nice; they obviously were working off a template, so everyone had the same first and last paragraphs, but each could write about which book he or she was reading, its plot, and why he or she likes it. (Not liking it is obviously not an option.) Some of the answers are adorable:

I like this book because it’s about a war and it tells you about a boy who goes and fights people. I also like this story because it has shooting in it.

I like this book because a kid is finally in charge of adults. Next, I want to see if the dad’s son can be brave. Finally, I like Social Studies.

I like this book because I really like it when colonists or British tell stories of how they won the war.

This book helps me understand about how life was like back then, it was simple yet hard and parents did not take any [business? laziness?]. The character Sam is a little like me because I get into silly little arguements with my father, he said I would make a good lawyer someday.

But a couple really got me:

I like this book because I like fighting and wars. Another reason I like this is cause my father was in a war when he was younger. I don’t think he got hurt.

Also, I like this story because it teachers about the Revolutionary War. I also had a relative who went to the Army and changed when he came back.