Reading Aloud: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

I decided to switch it up a bit. Instead of starting a new book I went for a poem relating to the book we just read. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a great rhyming read. It makes Paul Revere an American Folk-hero. Unfortunately, the rhyme-ability of Revere overshadow his compatriots who also participated in the ride: William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott. It also ignores the fact Paul Revere never made it Concord, Massachusetts as planned. Three cheers for poetic license; however, no matter the inaccuracy, no matter the type of literature, it is still a valuable teaching tool and gives an avid learner the opportunity to question validity and learn something new.