Cartoon Booklet Once Used To Teach History Still Has Value
Everett Taylor is the editor in chief of the opinion pages for the Tyler Paper.
Learning from history is often advocated, but it still seems noteworthy when a good idea from the past is revived for new generations.
A lot of Texans who attended school during a period of about 40 years starting in 1920 got some of their most memorable lessons in state history from a cartoon booklet.
It was titled Texas History Movies and was distributed to history students in the state by Mobil Oil. The varied history of Texas was illustrated in an interesting format to countless numbers of students.
Now the Texas State Historical Association is going to give that approach a modern try.
It has announced the publication of the newest version of this Texas history classic, featuring new cartoon strips and text by the late Jack Jackson, an award-winning scholar and illustrator.
A TSHA report said Jackson took much pride in this revision of the publication because the original greatly influenced his life's work.
Initially an underground cartoonist in the 1960s, Jackson later became prominent as an independent scholar who specialized in the history of the Spanish presence in Texas.
A paperback, The New Texas History Movies is being distributed by the association.
In addition, a special Educator's Edition with additional content by Jana Magruder is being made available to help incorporate the book into the seventh-grade curriculum. It is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary connections between history and language arts, building skills in reading, writing and social studies. Also included is a CD-ROM containing the classroom materials.
Should be interesting to see how a revival of the cartoon booklet as a tool for teaching Texas History to today's youngsters might fare in a world inundated by technology.
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A Tyler native mentioned in this column a couple of years ago as winner of a statewide Associated Press news award in New Mexico now has become a published author.
J. David Barron is a 1978 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler and has an associate's degree in journalism from Tyler Junior College with honors. He earned a bachelor's degree at The University of Texas at Austin.
"Fairway to Heaven" is the title of Barron's book, which is being released online at the Barnes and Noble and Amazon sites.
The story was written to be sold as a movie, he said, "after my lifelong best friend from our days growing up in Tyler, Mr. Kevin Kirkwood, pestered the heck out of me to write it."
"Kevin, who is the protagonist in the story, approached several prospective movie producers with the manuscript," Barron explained. "Each responded in like manner - they all thought the story had very real cinematic possibilities, but wanted to see it published first."
After a couple of hundred "polite and not-so-polite" rejections, Barron said he "got lucky" and Ladder Press Publications of Newington, Conn., extended a contract, "almost unheard of for a first-time author."
Because the story was written as a movie script, it is less than 100 pages.
"It's something even remedial readers can enjoy in one relaxing evening without having to labor to finish it," he explained. "That's the spin I've put on it, anyway, and I'm sticking to it."
Since Barron's specialty is sports it is no surprise the book has golf as the setting. The story takes place at Alexandria Golf Club in Alexandria, Minn. That is a course Ben Hogan once called one of his favorites and Tom Lehman, former U.S. Ryder Cup captain, calls home.
A reviewer's note says of the work: "A novella based on a true story, "Fairway to Heaven" takes a poignant look at life in the eyes of a wonderfully dysfunctional family that will cheat death in order to enjoy their ideas of a good time."
David is the son of Kenneth R. and Clara Barron, of Tyler.
A lot of Texans who attended school during a period of about 40 years starting in 1920 got some of their most memorable lessons in state history from a cartoon booklet.
It was titled Texas History Movies and was distributed to history students in the state by Mobil Oil. The varied history of Texas was illustrated in an interesting format to countless numbers of students.
Now the Texas State Historical Association is going to give that approach a modern try.
It has announced the publication of the newest version of this Texas history classic, featuring new cartoon strips and text by the late Jack Jackson, an award-winning scholar and illustrator.
A TSHA report said Jackson took much pride in this revision of the publication because the original greatly influenced his life's work.
Initially an underground cartoonist in the 1960s, Jackson later became prominent as an independent scholar who specialized in the history of the Spanish presence in Texas.
A paperback, The New Texas History Movies is being distributed by the association.
In addition, a special Educator's Edition with additional content by Jana Magruder is being made available to help incorporate the book into the seventh-grade curriculum. It is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary connections between history and language arts, building skills in reading, writing and social studies. Also included is a CD-ROM containing the classroom materials.
Should be interesting to see how a revival of the cartoon booklet as a tool for teaching Texas History to today's youngsters might fare in a world inundated by technology.
---
A Tyler native mentioned in this column a couple of years ago as winner of a statewide Associated Press news award in New Mexico now has become a published author.
J. David Barron is a 1978 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler and has an associate's degree in journalism from Tyler Junior College with honors. He earned a bachelor's degree at The University of Texas at Austin.
"Fairway to Heaven" is the title of Barron's book, which is being released online at the Barnes and Noble and Amazon sites.
The story was written to be sold as a movie, he said, "after my lifelong best friend from our days growing up in Tyler, Mr. Kevin Kirkwood, pestered the heck out of me to write it."
"Kevin, who is the protagonist in the story, approached several prospective movie producers with the manuscript," Barron explained. "Each responded in like manner - they all thought the story had very real cinematic possibilities, but wanted to see it published first."
After a couple of hundred "polite and not-so-polite" rejections, Barron said he "got lucky" and Ladder Press Publications of Newington, Conn., extended a contract, "almost unheard of for a first-time author."
Because the story was written as a movie script, it is less than 100 pages.
"It's something even remedial readers can enjoy in one relaxing evening without having to labor to finish it," he explained. "That's the spin I've put on it, anyway, and I'm sticking to it."
Since Barron's specialty is sports it is no surprise the book has golf as the setting. The story takes place at Alexandria Golf Club in Alexandria, Minn. That is a course Ben Hogan once called one of his favorites and Tom Lehman, former U.S. Ryder Cup captain, calls home.
A reviewer's note says of the work: "A novella based on a true story, "Fairway to Heaven" takes a poignant look at life in the eyes of a wonderfully dysfunctional family that will cheat death in order to enjoy their ideas of a good time."
David is the son of Kenneth R. and Clara Barron, of Tyler.
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