My Mighty Hudson with Local Author Mitchell Bring at the Library

We are big fans of local author Mitchell Bring's My Mighty Hudson, a book for children about the history of the Hudson River, which we have been using in our Quadricentennial studies this year. Mitch did a wonderful presentation at the library at which we learned even more about our beloved river. Mikro especially enjoyed learning about the ice age and the formation of the Hudson River Valley and the huge canyon carved under the sea when the ice dam broke and a massive flood washed out the terminal moraine. He was also tickled to find out that when they built the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, workers found thousands of mastodon tusks. And I finally found out what the difference between a mastodon and a mammoth was, though I'm sure Paleo Boy already knew! (Mastodons' tusks were straighter and their backs were not sloped like mammoths' were.) We also learned about the Native American tribes along the river, the foundation of New Amsterdam, and the epidemiology of the diseases that wiped out most of the Native population of this area after the Europeans came. It was an enjoyable and interesting talk.

Please note that no consideration has been paid for this review. We bought our copy and we love the book. It's that simple. Thanks, Big Brother, for requiring lame disclaimers by bloggers...