Noah Webster: Weaver of Words Book

For an illustrated book it is quite word heavy, but is appropriate for the upper elementary/middle school intended audience. The style of writing is somewhere in between a story and a factual biography. Not only does it tell of Webster's love of learning and dictionary writing, but it recounts his commitment to his family, political involvement, advocating for all to read and write, creation of the first copyright law, and creation of the first insurance company. The illustrations in Shea's book are very lifelike and realistic. They match the matter of fact style of writing and vividly display events in his life as they would have occurred. Much of it is about his studies, but it also includes his personal life and beliefs including his faith in God as the creator of the world. I was blown away to learn that over 70 million copies of Webster's blue-back speller was sold and at one time, more of them were being sold than Bibles. Noah Webster, Weaver of Words has a very well- written text that is both engaging and distinctive. Because of Webster's significant contributions to many facets of his time, this book would be great to use in a history lesson about America during the American Revolution.