GF Erin

Hey bloggers.  There are so many things that bug me about school. The main thing that really bugs me though is text books. Yup, I said it, text books! They’re heavy, thick, boring, old, and the worst thing is they don’t give any interesting information at all! For example, my history text book gives absolutely no fun facts about anything in American history. Right now, my social studies class is learning about the War of 1812 which is actually kind of interesting. I was reading through my book for homework and I noticed something that I didn’t expect to learn.

First Lady Dolley Madison

As the British were coming through to attack and destroy Washington D.C., everyone in the capital fled from the scene all except for the First Lady, Dolley Madison. She didn’t leave until almost the very last second because she felt that it was important to save the painting of the first President, George Washington. She thought that it had to be saved for people in the future. I don’t know of anyone who would risk they’re life for a picture of someone they never even knew! So now here’s what bugs me, they didn’t enough information about Dolley Madison in my opinion.

First of all, the textbook doesn’t even mention why she wanted to save the painting. I mean people could have thought that she was crazy or something if they didn’t know that she was trying to save it so that people could see the president hundreds of years later. Also, I think that the book could have included a little bit about Dolley herself.  Dolley was an interesting person. She was really outgoing, very fashionable, kind of a trend setter, and she was well known for throwing parties in the White House. People said that with all the political arguments that occurred in Washington D.C., she was the one who kept everything calm. Also, she was very different from her husband President James Madison. She was outgoing and he was always kind of quiet and reserved. Many people think that she was some of the reason that Madison was reelected. I enjoyed researching more about the first lady and I wish our book had more facts about her. Maybe I should write a new history textbook with exciting facts about history!! You know what I take that back that’s a lot of work and it’s February vacation. Sorry 8th graders, you’ll have to be stuck with the same textbook for a while .