Picturing America for Public Libraries

Name of Poster: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Poster #: 3-A
Artist: Grant Wood (1892–1942)
Object Identification: Oil painting
Medium: Oil on masonite
Owner or venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Date: 1931

Program Outline

1. Use Visual Thinking Strategies to discuss the poster in depth.

2. Use the Whole Book Approach to share one or more of the programming books suggested below to connect library resources to the poster via subject, style, or artist.

3. Using one or two intriguing sentences per book, booktalk a number of books from the bibliography to whet the appetite of your audience for more reading. Give books to interested takers for later checkout.

4. Add crafts, music, activities, etc. as your style dictates.

Target Audience

School Age (6–12)

Background Notes

See the Picturing America Teachers Resource Book, pp. 16–17 for specific information about the poster. Debra Leach’s Grant Wood: The Artist in the Hayloft (Prestel, 2005) and John Duggleby’s Artist in Overalls: The Life of Grant Wood (Chronicle, 1995) provide child-friendly insights into Wood’s art and life.

Program Books

(These can be read in a traditional manner or with the interactive picture book method described in Using the Whole Book Approach.)

For a program using a children’s book focused on Paul Revere:

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. illus. by Christopher Bing. Handprint, 2001.

Related activities:

Play 18th-century music and period military tunes as the group is assembling and during the craft.

Display Picturing America posters 2-A or 2-B with the John Singleton Copley portrait of Paul Revere and on verso, silver teapot. Discuss Paul Revere’s occupation and the importance of tea in the revolution.

In his version of The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, illustrator Christopher Bing has recreated the look of historical documents with rubber stamps on parchment paper. Children could create their own rubber stamps by carving potatoes or other vegetables (turnips, carrots) or using commercially prepared stamps with black paint or inkpads. The directions for making white paper look like parchment (with tea—how perfect!) can be found in Marian Broida’s Projects About the American Revolution (Marshall Cavendish, 2005, p.42–43.). Broida also provides authentic British stamps related to The Stamp Act on p. 11 to give children an idea of what was in use from the other side of the ocean. More ideas can be found in Kris Bordessa’s Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself! (Nomad Press, 2006).

For a program using a children’s book focused on Grant Wood:

Leach, Debra. Grant Wood: The Artist in the Hayloft. Prestel, 2005.

Related activities:

Pages 8 and 9 describe and show a sculpture “bouquet” made from found objects and household items. The message is that Wood could make art out of anything. Assemble small flower pots, florist’s foam or Styrofoam and motley items for participants to make their own “bouquets.”

See page 16 for a creative take on the story of George Washington and the cherry tree, circulated by Parson Weems. School-aged children will enjoy seeing how Wood depicted the young George Washington and other elements in the painting. This may generate other ideas for artwork.

Children could paint their own version of Paul Revere’s ride or focusing on the artist’s most famous work, create their own American Gothic. See the directions for a “Gothic Paste-Up” in Mary Ann Kohl and Kim Solga’s Great American Artists for Kids (Bright Ring Publishing, 2008), p.52. She suggests printing copies of the actual house Grant Wood used as a model. (The photo may be downloaded for free at www.brightring.com.) Children may then create their own people to insert in the foreground. Grant Wood used his sister and dentist as models. Who would the children use to replicate this iconic painting? Their favorite librarians?!

Bibliography

Adler, David. A Picture Book of Paul Revere. Holiday House, 1995. (Preschool–K, Elementary)

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? Videocassette. Weston Woods, 1997. (Elementary)

Anderson, Dale. Lexington and Concord. Enchanted Lion, 2004. (Elementary)

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Independent Dames. Simon and Schuster, 2008. (Elementary)

Bordessa, Kris. Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself. Nomad, 2006. (Elementary)

Corey, Shana. Paul Revere’s Ride. Random House, 2004. (Elementary)

Duggleby, John. Artist in Overalls: The Life of Grant Wood. Chronicle, 1995. (Elementary, Teen, Adult)

Fisher, Leonard Everett. The Silversmiths. Benchmark, 1997. (Elementary)

Fleming, Thomas. Everybody’s Revolution. Scholastic, 2006. (Elementary, Teen)

Ford, Carin. Paul Revere. Enslow, 2003. (Elementary)

Fradin, Dennis. Let It Begin Here! Lexington and Concord: First Battles of the American Revolution. Walker, 2005. (Elementary)

Fritz, Jean. And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1973. (Elementary)

Giblin, James. The Many Rides of Paul Revere.Scholastic, 2007. (Elementary, Teen)

Goldstein, Ernest. Grant Wood: American Gothic. Garrard, 1984. (Elementary)

Kimmel, Heidi. The Battles of Lexington and Concord. Scholastic, 2007. (Elementary)

Krensky, Stephen. Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride. HarperCollins, 2002. (Elementary)

Lawson, Robert. Mr. Revere and I. Little Brown, 1953. (Elementary)

Leach, Debra. Grant Wood: The Artist in the Hayloft. Prestel, 2005. (Elementary)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. illus. by Christopher Bing. Handprint, 2001. (Elementary, Teen, Older Teen, Adult)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Paul Revere’s Ride. illus. by Nancy Winslow Parker. Greenwillow, 1985. (Elementary)

———. Paul Revere’s Ride. illus. by Ted Rand. Dutton, 1990. (Elementary)

———. Paul Revere’s Ride. illus. by Charles Santore. HarperCollins, 2003. (Elementary)

Raatma, Lucia. Paul Revere’s Ride. Compass Point, 2004. (Elementary)

Randolph, Ryan. Paul Revere and the Minutemen of the American Revolution. Rosen, 2002. (Elementary, Teen)

Rinaldi, Ann. The Secret of Sarah Revere. Harcourt, 2003. (Elementary)

Smith, Lane. John, Paul, George and Ben. Hyperion, 2006. (Elementary)

Venezia, Mike. Grant Wood. Children’s Press, 1995. (Elementary)

Winters, Kay. Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak. Dutton, 2008. (Elementary)