Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?

by Jean Fritz

Where was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? Languishing on a sack of salt in his country store? Speaking out against England's stamp tax on the floor of the House of Burgesses? Or being elected governor? Well, no matter where he was or what he was doing, the things that happened to Patrick Henry always seemed to happen on the 29th of May!

Genres: History, Biography, American History, Childrens, Picture Books, Nonfiction, School

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 1975

About the author

Jean Guttery Fritz was an American children's writer best known for American biography and history. She won the Children's Legacy Literature Award for her career contribution to American children's literature in 1986. She turned 100 in November 2015 and died in May 2017 at the age of 101.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing about Patrick Henry coming into this other than his famous "Give me liberty" speech. I sure had missed a lot! This was a wonderful book and we learned so much about him in a friendly, engaging way. My boys were talking about it for days afterwards and bombarded their dad with all sorts of stories from our readings of the day.

A fantastic look at an often over-looked figure of American history.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fritz always has a fun, unifying idea for her biographies; for this one, she presents Henry as he appears on his birthday at various years in his life. I like how much time Fritz spends on Henry's childhood, his weaknesses as well as his strengths, and on details that will be interesting to kids (like how may kids he had!). Around a 5th grade reading level, its length and the cheerful, humorous, engaging prose makes it accessible to strong, younger readers as well. Margot Tomes' illustrations look dated at first glance, but they are a solid accompaniment. There are too few genuinely interesting and readable biographies for this age group! Look for the others by Fritz (there are quite a few about Revolutionary War era heroes).

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jean Fritz. There are some amazing details in this book. Patrick had 17 children, he prepared for his law certificate by reading two big books, and he was a really late bloomer, for example. When he spoke, people were spellbound. I love late bloomer stories. They give me hope.

[ஐ Katya (Book Queen)ஐ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and cute. I picked it up as May 29th is my birthday.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent choice for elementary students learning about the American War for Independence.

Read in conjunction with The Winter At Valley Forge: Survival and Victory, The 4th of July Story, Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?, and Meet Benjamin Franklin.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This month, while the Old School Kidlit Reading Challenge has been focusing on nonfiction, I decided to finally sit down and read a stack of the late Jean Fritz's books about the history of the United States. In total, I read 8 titles:

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? illustrated by Margot Tomes (1973)
Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (1974)
Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? illustrated by Margot Tomes (1975)
What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? illustrated by Margot Tomes (1976)
Will You Sign Here, John Hancock? illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (1976)
Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? illustrated by Tomie dePaola (1977)
Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus? illustrated by Margot Tomes (1980)
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution illustrated by Tomie dePaola (1987)

All of these except the last one are biographies of key figures in early America. In each biography, Fritz focuses on a representative quirk of each individual she profiles, which serves as a unifying thread for the important events of that person's life. For John Hancock, whose signature looms so large on the declaration of independence, this is his desire for attention and the ostentatious ways he went about trying to get it. For Sam Adams, it is his refusal to learn to ride a horse, for Columbus, his terrible sense of direction and tendency to stumble upon good fortune, and for King George, his blind paternalism toward the colonists, even when they have made very clear their disdain for him. In the last book, Shh! We're Writing the Constitution, Fritz tells the story of the difficulties and compromises that occurred among different historical figures as the U.S. Constitution slowly took shape.


In both types of books, Fritz focuses heavily not just on historical events, but on the personalities of the key figures who contributed to the outcomes of these events. Fritz does not simply idolize these men for their greatness; instead she shows both how they were ordinary (stubborn, foolish, insufferable, laughable, quirky, selfish, etc.) and extraordinary. No one is treated as all good or all bad, but instead they are portrayed as very human. For a reader like me who reads books mainly for their characters, I found this approach refreshing and endearing. Whereas I struggle to focus on lengthy informational texts that try to drill details into my memory, the "characters" in each of these books were fascinating to me. As I read in the evenings, I kept saying to my husband, "Hey did you know...?" and "I never knew that..."


None of these books is enough on its own to convey all the details of the discovery of America, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, or the drafting of the Constitution, but every single one of them provides context for understanding those events on a more personal and emotional level. The straightforward facts which are included alongside the biographical details are made more memorable by Fritz's engaging and humorous writing style, and everything she writes about comes to life in a way that school textbooks never could.They would make wonderful read-alouds for elementary kids who are studying colonial America, but they are just as entertaining as independent reads for older readers who want a refresher.


Also wonderful are the illustrations for each volume. There are three illustrators for these books: Margot Tomes, Trina Schart Hyman, and Tomie dePaola. Though all three artists' styles suit the mood and content of the books, my personal favorite is Hyman. Her pictures have the most detail, and in my opinion, the most personality. Tomes is a close second - I especially like the way she draws children - but found that I associated dePaola too much with other books and other genres to feel like he was a good fit for this subject matter. Still, I think the designer for these books did a great job of keeping a consistent look to the whole series that places the reader in a particular frame of mind regardless of who drew the pictures.

Now that I have read all of these books, I understand why they were so popular in my school library during childhood and why I hear so much about them in homeschooling circles. I plan to use them with my kids when we study U.S. history and I hope they will learn to love history (as I never did as a child) by observing how much fun Fritz clearly had writing about it.

This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

[Della Tingle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely fabulous book! Both fun and interesting, this book is about Patrick Henry and his influence on U.S. history. Excellent!

[Susan Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read to children (or have them read themselves. Gave some great history while giving insight into Patrick Henry’s life. Reinforced in my mind how not to judge a child’s abilities by their formal education experience.

[Susan Riegger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of Patrick Henry is a biography written for young readers in the primary grades. The illustrations are good the ones in black and white are not really necessary however the illustrations in color lent to telling the story. Patrick Henry was a normal biy growing up in Virginia during extraordinary times and the author follows Patrick and his life up to and including the Revoltionary War.A little hint before reading the story Patrick was a late bloomer when it came to success and this is a book that tells Patick's strive to find his calling. This story is a wonderful introduction to biographies for the late primary student to the intermediate student. Having a prior knowledge of some of the events of the revolutionary was will be helpful in understanding the sequence of events. The characters are interesting and since they are all part of our history we learn some Great book

[The other John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute little book recounting the life of Patrick Henry. Since it's a kid's book, it makes for light reading, but it does give a good snapshot of Henry's personality and accomplishments. (Well, at least it matches the few grown up history books I've read about the era.) What really makes the book, though, are the illustrations by Margot Tomes. Her drawings make the bold statement, "Now here is a character!" Even if you don't have kids, it's a book worth checking out for a good fifteen or twenty minutes worth of fun.

[Hailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biography sort of book about Patrick Henry who was a lawyer but he was very misunderstood because he was very quiet and shy. Freedom became one of the major topics Henry wanted to and loved to talk about so he found his verse. Read to learn what actually happened on May 29.
I liked this book and especially the illustrations because they are so simple they made me feel like I was actually back in time with Patrick Henry.
I think my students would love this book because it is an interesting story about history, but I don't think it is short enough for a young level.

[Canela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book. Really well written. Gives lots of personal history and background on Patrick Henry without being "heavy". Jean Fritz does a great job of adding humor, drama and connections to the reader to keep them interested. A true American "fairy tale" with a real "Happily Ever After" ending. Also a great example of perseverance, doing what you love and success will follow and the love of family and nature.

[Yesenia MR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great to inform readers of Patrick Henry. It starts when he was baby and goes through his life. It even has a page in the back titled "Notes from the Author." This page gives additional information about certain details on 6 different pages.
This is a great book for students to have when researching Patrick Henry.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow Patrick Henry remained in the background of all our learning about the Revolution until we read this book. Because of that, my daughter didn't connect quite as well with the story. But that really isn't the fault of the book, I don't think.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My knowledge of Patrick Henry was limited to his famous "Give me Liberty" speech. I learned a lot more about him from this great little book by Jean Fritz. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a little more about this famous American.

[Joenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of Patrick Henry, who is only known for "Give me Liberty..." I had no idea his wife had some sorf of mental illness and had to be confined. Very informational!

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death" is put into greater context in this book. It's wonderfully entertaining for children and informative for all readers.

[Cws]

JAR5Fri

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

[Lilpinkvanilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

lol funny I loved it

[Deborah Harris]

RL 4.25 GRL-R

AR Quiz No. 5447 EN Nonfiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP

[Julia]

Cute little introduction to Patrick Henry for children.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography for young children about Patrick Henry.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short and cute book about Patrick Henry. Good for reading aloud.

[Laura Hoyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't wait to use this with my students!

[Leah Angstman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my final kids' book in the series of three that I found at the Little Free Library to feed my curiosity of how much people whitewash history for kids. This one is not so bad, though admittedly, I don't know that much about Patrick Henry's actual personal life, so I can't really claim knowledge of accuracy in those departments. The book is from 1975, and it's irritating that the story makes it seem like, without Patrick Henry, we wouldn't have broken away from England nor had a Bill of Rights.

I'll grant that it was important to have voices of dissent at the time, and I'll grant that he was a fine-enough governor and that his "liberty or death" speech was a landmark (though probably also rather mythologized). But the guy was also a blowhard from the Virginia Dynasty who owned slaves, believed in states' rights to the extent that he fought federal rights (oh, we know who those people are), just plain didn't want to pay taxes (not just "taxation without representation," but simply didn't want to pay any at all, and, oh, we know who those people are), refused to vote for the Constitution, and railed against the government like a disgruntled alt-righter to his dying day.

The Constitution passed without him, and there were enough people wanting to insure rights and principles for the People that the Bill of Rights was already well on its way, without or without Henry. To give credit to Henry for something he didn't really do is to take credit away from James Madison (also slave-holding Virginia Dynasty and vindictive, so I'm not picking any favorites here) and the rest of the committees and liberty-seekers who wanted explicit rights and the rest of the South who wanted more states' rights. This is not necessarily to disparage Patrick Henry; he was a five-time governor, and he was a lawyer in a couple of British America's first-of-its-type cases against taxes and against men of the cloth receiving percentages of crop yields without doing anything for it (or with it) that would justify farmers having to pay forced charity. I'll give him that.

But to say he was so instrumental in so much of this as to imply that it wouldn't have happened without him, is to ignore that the Revolution was a huge machine made up of thousands of parts, thousands of loudmouthed men with opinions screaming louder than one another. Had he never made a "liberty or death" propaganda catchphrase so easy to remember and repeat, we wouldn't remember him at all. He would have gone the way of Alexander Hamilton, who was as good as buried until a musical was made of his life; the number one Google search that year was "Who was Alexander Hamilton?"

The rest of the parts of the book, about Henry's personal life and rise to prominence, are interesting, though there's nothing significant in the date of May 29th except his birthday, so the title is a little misleading, and I'm not sure that I think the mental illness and subsequent death of his first wife is handled with much delicacy.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the up side, this is a breezy, informative account of Patrick Henry's life and accomplishments. On the downside, it definitely feels dated. There is mention Henry is given eight enslaved workers on his marriage, but no more mention is made of slavery or how Henry reconciled, or failed to reconcile it, with his own passionate interest in liberty. Would have been nice to know if the field workers at the end were free or enslaved. No sources listed, no index.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young man who loves playing game and enjoying his life!! He becomes a lawyer but it took him a while to argue successfully. But when the issue was Freedom, suddenly he becomes an impressive, dramatic speaker who inspired crowds to get freedom!! Amazing biography.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like these short biographies by Fritz. This one is no exception. Perfect for elementary school kids, and not drudgery for adults either.

[Crissy Adinolfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for elementary aged students doing research.