Patriotic Kids – New Release In Revolutionary Series By Robert Skead – We need to have more patriotic kids growing up in today’s America! Robert Skead joins us to discuss his books for kids focusing on teaching and inspiring patriotism, and too discuss his newest book in the Revolutionary War Series. Tune in today!

Air Date: 08/08/2022

Guest: Robert Skead

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

 

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live. We’re taking on those hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. That’s how you rebuild the walls.

If you’re wondering what WallBuilders stands for, comes out of that scripture in Nehemiah that says, arise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be able to approach. If you think about those biblical days, if you didn’t have those outer walls, your city was run over. You got to rebuild the walls in order to rebuild the culture. In America, it’s the foundation that we’re rebuilding, it’s the foundations of principles of liberty, it’s the idea that our rights don’t come from government, they don’t come from our neighbors, they come from God, that our freedom comes from God, that this system that we enjoy is because we did it the biblical way.

And we’ve lost those first principles. We’ve lost those basic ideas. We stopped teaching it in the education system. And so we have to start teaching that to ourselves, to our family, to the people in our church, to our neighbors. That’s what we do here at WallBuilders all week long. Whether it’s interviews like we’ll have today, or it’s Foundations of Freedom Thursday, where we take your questions, or Good News Friday, where we talk about the results of infusing the principles of liberty into the culture all week, it’s essentially about how to restore the culture, rebuild the walls, bring back the principles of liberty so that we can get the results in the culture that I think all of us want to see: prosperity, liberty, abundance, all of those things, it happens when you follow the biblical commands on how to treat your neighbors and how to form your society.

So thanks for joining us here at WallBuilders Live to talk about that. I’m Rick Green, a former Texas legislator and America’s Constitution coach. And I’m here with David Barton. He’s our founder at WallBuilders. He’s America’s premier historian. Tim Barton’s with us. He’s a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. And we’re glad that you’re with us as well. Check out our website today at wallbuilderslive.com. That’s the place where you can make a contribution if you want to come alongside us. It takes finances, of course, to do something like this and to reach more people. So your donations definitely make a difference. And that’s also where you can grab some of those links and share the program with your friends and family.

Get it out there. Be a force multiplier. It’s great information being shared on this program. Don’t just listen to it. Make sure that other people are listening as well, and you are educating the people in your circle.

Alright, David and Tim, we’ve got Robert Skead with us. Later, we’re going to be talking to Rob about some more books. We’ve had him on years ago about some of his kids’ books from the Revolutionary Period. We’re going to talk to him about a new one that is out in that series. And of course, it’s vitally important that we have good materials to raise kids to be patriots, give them some good content and just glad to see more of that material coming out.

Let’s talk a little bit more about what is going to happen in just the next few weeks. We’re getting close to September 1st and the pastors briefing that’s going to happen at American Journey Experience. This is a great opportunity for pastors to come in and get to see that amazing collection that you guys have combined with Glenn Beck on all the incredible stuff from the WallBuilders collection and from Glenn’s vault and the artifacts, the documents, but then also in a setting where they’ll get to get some good training as well. So it’s a full day with you guys over an American Journey Experience for pastors on September 1st.

Tim:

Well, most of a full day; we’re going to go from 10:00am until 04:00pm where we’re going to provide lunch and there’s no expense at all for the pastors. They need to sign up. And we are limited on space because of the facility so that the number of passengers that can come. But this is certainly something that for decades, literally, we’ve done pastors briefings; traditionally, we’ve done them in Washington, DC.

But because since January 6th of 2020, Nancy Pelosi has closed down the capital to largely any kind of outside groups or any public American individuals being there, we’ve not been able to take pastors to Washington DC. So we’ve done a couple of virtual events where we had some congressmen and senators that would Zoom in, Skype in and be part of the conversation virtually. But we also realized, man, we’ve got this incredible facility with so many original documents. And as much as we talk about the Christian foundation of the nation, we want to be able to show pastors first hand these documents where they can come and they can see these things firsthand; they’ll be actually able to handle and hold some of these artifacts.

It’s history first person being able to experience this. And we have some senators and some congressmen are actually going to fly in for this event to talk to pastors in person. We have some that are going to Zoom in from Washington DC or wherever they might be at that time. And we want to help pastors connect with some of the leaders in the nation, especially ones who have a biblical world view, who have a biblical lens and they’re trying to promote and protect biblical values along the way that pastors can recognize there’s some really good people trying to do great things.

Certainly, we would argue the great Christian leaders of DC are significantly outnumbered, but there are some really good ones there. And so there’s a reason pastors should take heart and recognize what it is that they can do to get involved in the process. And as we have a midterm election is going to be coming up, we want to help get these pastors fired up to start teaching biblical principles and values from the culture again, that they can be part of this. What we believe is a third great awakening that God is stirring and doing and really moving in this nation. And we want to help equip pastors in the way. So go to Wallbuilders.com, there is a tab on initiatives, you can click on that tab, scroll down “Pastor’s briefing”. This is for pastors in general. But even if you’re on staff at a church, if you are a ministry leader, this is for you. Again, it’s limited capacity, so if it’s full, then try it again in the spring. We try to do two of these a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. But certainly, we’d love to have pastors and ministry leaders join us in Dallas, US on September 1st.

Rick:

Alright, then, in addition to the pastors briefing that’s going to take place on September 1st, in January, taking a group over to Israel. So we finally opening back up and I’m hoping, guys, I can finally go with you on this trip. But this can be a great opportunity for people to actually get to go to the Holy Land. And as many times as you’ve been there, you know how valuable this is. I haven’t been yet. You guys have been trying to get me to go for a long time, but excited about this trip in January.

David:

Yes, this trip to Israel is significant. And this one we have several trips, but this one is for pastors; and this is really for pastor influencers. Rick, you’re going on. This is a Christian leader and so this is a great opportunity if you’ve never been to Israel. It is a transformational trip. This is something that completely changed my life. I did not expect it to do so. The impact was substantial.

And so on the WallBuilders Live homepage, you can go there, you can go to WallBuilders and you can see about it. But if you’re a pastor of say, 500 people in your church, or you’ve got a social media footprint of 2,500, people in Israel want you to come over because they want you to see, they know you’ll be changed when you see what the Bible land looks like. And they hope you’ll bring congregation back at some point in time. So if that’s a possibility for you, and you have a church that might bring a congregation back sometime in the future, this trip is for you. It is much cheaper than normal trips, but again, you can get the information at wallbuilders.com or here at wallbuilderslive.com.

Rick:

Alright, guys, well, we’ve got Robert Skead with us when we come back from the break, going and to be talking about this new book; great chance for folks to have an opportunity to educate their little ones in these principles. Whether it’s a kid that you want to give this to actually read, or as I’m going to do, get these books for my grandkids and actually read them to my grandkids. I don’t think they’re ever too young to start planting the seeds of patriotism in there. Stay with us, folks, will be right back. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

AMERICAN HISTORY

This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. In 1963, the United States Supreme Court decided that voluntary Bible reading could no longer be part of the school day. Founding Father Benjamin Rush, known as the “Father of Public Schools” under the Constitution pointedly warned that the Bible should be read in schools in preference to all other books. He specifically warned that if America ever ceased promoting biblical principles in schools, then we would waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. He was right.

We now have 7 million Americans in prison, on probation or on parole, and the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Sadly, this was unnecessary, but is the result of no longer teaching the morals of the Bible and schools. For more information about the Founding Fathers views on the positive impact of the Bible and schools, go to wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. Rob Skead is back with us. We’re talking about his incredible books that make kids love liberty and learn good values. Rob, thanks for coming on and good to have you back.

Rob:

Hey, pleasure to be here. Thanks for the opportunity.

Rick:

Yeah, man. I think last time we talked it was about patriots’ red coats and spies, if I remember right. That’s been, I don’t know, five years, six years, it’s been a while.

Rob:

Yeah, that’s correct. That came out in 2015.

Rick:

Yes. Okay, well, tell us what’s come out since then and what are your latest books?

Rob:

Oh, sure. So the newest book in the series is called Links to Liberty: Defending the Great Chain at West Point. And that is now the third book in the American Revolutionary War adventure series. It just came out in paperback a few months ago, and so we’re excited to get it out. As I said, that’s three in the series.

Number two is called Submarines, Secrets and a Daring Rescue. And these are American Revolutionary War adventure stories geared to teach kids important lessons about the American Revolution through the art of storytelling and with the foundation of an adventure to draw everybody in.

Rick:

Love it. Now tell me the age you’re targeting.

Rob:

Yeah, I would say the ages from the publisher are ages nine and up. Grownups have read them too, and reported to me via email through my website that they don’t think they’re just for kids, they get to enjoy them as well.

Rick:

Alright, good. Honestly, I’m going to try it with even younger. I’ve got a five year old grandson that I think would eat this up if I was reading it to him.

Rob:

Perfect for a read to me, kind of an exciting sit down read for a grandparent to a grandchild or a father, mother to their son or daughter. Again, all geared to help inspire kids to do great things as they hear about these adventures that the two main characters, twin boys, age 14 in the first book, 15 in second book, and 16 in the third book. And as they are faced with adversity and conflict and really their faith and their courage and bravery see them through.

Rick:

Love it. Love it. Now, I cannot remember if we talked about this all those years ago on our previous interview, but just looking on your website and seeing the Satchel Paige and Joe DiMaggio book, I don’t remember us talking about that, but maybe we did. I got to ask you about that one, though.

Rob:

No, we didn’t talk about that. So that came about, I think, around 2013. It’s called Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige Vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio. And that is a picture book for grades 2-5. And it’s about a little known moment in baseball history with the New York Yankees had a rookie named Joe DiMaggio. They wanted to see if he was ready for the big leagues. He just came from the Pacific Coast League for the Seals and was an amazing prospect. But the way to test him was they had to put him against the greatest pitcher in the world, Satchel Paige.

Now, Satchel Paige couldn’t play in the major leagues because of the color of his skin. Jackie Robinson hadn’t come along yet to break the color barrier in baseball, but everyone in baseball knew that Satchel Paige was the greatest. So what the Yankees did is they arranged for Joe DiMaggio to face Satchel Paige in what we would call a “Barnstorming game” on a February afternoon in Northern California. joe DiMaggio joined a team of white American League or major league baseball players, and they faced a team of Negro league Barnstormers, the Satchel Paige All Stars.

And really, it’s a story about respect and race relations because of the color aspect. But really, Joe DiMaggio wanted to earn the respect of Satchel Paige and prove that he had something to prove, right, to prove that he belonged to the big leagues with the Yankees. And then Satchel Paige and his team of Barnstormers had something to prove as well, that they were just as good, if not better than the Major League Baseball players they were facing. So a great story, little known in baseball history, unless you’re a baseball fishing “natho”, and it was a joy to bring that story to a picture book.

Rick:

That is a great story, man. I’m going to order that one as well for my grandson and for me to read, because we are baseball fans, for sure. Now, can you get the books at your website, or do you recommend going somewhere else?

Rob:

Yeah, well, the books basically send people to a book seller of their choice, Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Certainly, a local bookstore could order them as well through the distributors that they use. They’re pretty much available wherever books are sold.

Rick:

But you’ve also got some cool resources at your website at robertskead.com. And I’ll do a link on our website at wallbuilderslive.com today, some cool posters.

Rob:’

Yes. Thank you. The great resources for the American Revolutionary Award Venture series are study guides for educators. So whether you’re a home schooling family or whether you’re a teacher in a public or Catholic or private school and you want to teach the American Revolution, there are study guides for each book that pretty much use themes in the story and elements in the story in the classroom to help teachers, educators, moms and dads homeschooling teach the American Revolution.

Rick:

And that’s free on the website, these are downloadable?

Rob:

Yeah, that’s free, it’s a downloadable PDF. And it’s really cool. I worked with educators to make all that possible.

Rick:

That’s cool. That’s cool. Okay, so you’ve been doing a lot of this research for years now, you and your dad together. What stands out? What’s some of the coolest facts you learned and most interesting, that you learned in all this research?

Rob:

Yes, well, it’s interesting. As you just mentioned, I wrote these stories with my dad. We’re both sons of the American Revolution. We have an ancestor named Lamberton Clark who fought in the American Revolution for the Continental Army and the Connecticut militia. And that was kind of what prompted the beginnings of these stories.

And so my dad, who was retired at the time, did a lot of the research with myself. And so each book has a hook that kind of trumpets the amazing creativity of colonial patriots or the leadership of George Washington. So when the first book in the research that we discovered was Amazing Facts About the Culpritspiring, which was George Washington Inspiring, and then the second book we discovered about the first submarine invented for warfare. Who would have thought that there was a submarine that was invented, created and worked during colonial times, right?

Rick:

Yeah.

Rob:

It was called the American Turtle Submarine. And that was the hook for book two, Submarine Secrets and a daring rescue. And then the third book we researched, we found out that the content of the army and George Washington had forged a great chain, and they draped it at West Point in New York across the Hudson River; and its purpose was to keep the British ships from going up the river.

So what an amazing feat of creativity that is as well. So each story kind of features a certain little known hook of American history. I was in 6th grade in 1976 during America’s bicentennial, I never learned about the Culpritspiring, I never learned about the American Turtle Submarine, I never learned about the Great Chain at West Point. So we’ve kind of taken these little aspects of creativity based on our research and then putting a venture around them so kids can learn about and adults can learn about them as well.

Rick:

Love it. Love it. Well, what is that like, getting to write with your dad? That’s got to be pretty cool.

Rob:

Oh, my goodness. So my line is you maybe talk about a father-son fishing trip, being a great father son, that adventure experience, writing a book with your dad is like that on steroids. So at the time, my mom and dad lived right next to me and my family. I could go right next door and talk to my dad about the story. As we brainstorm together, we would email each other back and forth, and it was just a great experience.

And at the age of 89, my dad became a published author with me, which really just proved that if someone stays active and creative in their golden years, neat and fun things can still happen.

Rick:

Oh, that’s awesome. He was how old?

Rob:

He was 89 when our Patriots Red Coats and Spies came out. He’s still with us today. He’s 96.

Rick:

Oh, that’s incredible!

Rob:

Yes. So he was 95 when links to Liberty defending the Great Chain at West Point just launched. And so, yeah, what a great joy for him and for me to be able to do that with him.

Rick:

No doubt. That’s cool. That’s so neat. So what’s next on your agenda coming up?

Rob:

Next on my agenda, I’ve got a couple of new stories that I’ve been working on, a couple of World War II stories actually. One of the greatest aviation stories I’ve ever heard that’s been told in grownup books. But I put it in a picture book format. So I’m looking up for a publisher for that. And I also wrote a fictional story of middle grade fiction about a World War II adventure that takes place in Brooklyn New York near the Brooklyn Navy Yard; and involves a little boy who creates something that could offset the balance of power for World War II. And I don’t want to give any spoilers on that, but it’s pretty fun.

Rick:

I can tell you, I already felt like you were letting some secrets out there. You went into a whisper to tell. That’s great, though. Man, that’s awesome. Well, please let us know, when the new stuff comes out, our listeners would love to know about it, and we just enjoy and following what you’re putting out there. Because we get asked all the time at WallBuilders for more kids’ materials and how do you raise patriots, how do you teach young people these values and these principles. And so what you’re producing is desperately needed out there, families are looking for it, and we’re just thankful for what you’re doing, man. Thank you so much.

Rob:

Oh, thank you. Yeah, our pleasure.

Rick:

Alright, folks, we’ll have a link today at wallbuilderslive.com to get you over there. You can go to any bookstore or straight on to the online bookstores as well, but what a thrill. I mean, a great way for all of us to learn. I mean, it’s one of the things we really push on these things. You read these stories with your kids because there’s so much we all need to learn as well about that history. Stay with us, we’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

earn the citizen’s guide to America’s constitution, you’ll learn what you need to do to help save our constitutional republic. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, and it’s going to inspire you to do your part to preserve freedom for future generations. It’s called Constitution Alive with David Barton and Rick Green. You can find out more information on our website now at wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying  with us. Thanks to Rob Skead for joining us as well and sharing all these books. Guys, I know you all get to ask these as well. And we’re doing better now. I think WallBuilders has some kids’ materials now. I just feel like it’s never enough. You remember when it’s just Live, the Signers and Original Intent, and I go to these events and I’d have two books on the table and people will be like yeah, I don’t my 8-year-old is going to read that. What do you got? We have so much more now that’s available to them. So good stuff at wallbuilders.com. But we also want to encourage people to check out these books by Robert Skead as well.

Tim:

Yeah, it’s something that’s really great to see Rob doing this. When I first met him years ago now, he was telling me the story about having his dad really, this was kind of a brainchild of theirs, and his dad had sown the seeds of patriotism into him, Rick, as you mentioned, where you’re going to help do that for your grandkids, he said that’s what his dad did for him. And of course, as we go into the interview, he’s an author and has done a lot of different things.

But I love what he has done trying to make this interactive story almost like we’ve talked about before, like the Turtle Twin books. One of the really fun things, I think, where we are now compared, Rick, to what you were contrasting a moment ago where for a while there was not some really good kids books to be able to engage and learn American history. You had Rush Limbaugh making that attempt with Rush Revere and making something a little more palatable for kids to be able to engage with history and learn some of those lessons, meet some of those characters. Turtle twins have done it. Rob is working to do the same thing.

It’s really great that we are now in a place where there are some legitimate options out there where there are home school parents asking for answers and solutions. And of course, you mentioned at wallbuilders.com, we have a lot of biographies that were done decades ago for school kids to be able to go and learn the story of a John Adams or Abigail Adams or a Booker D. Washington, George Washington Carver, Abraham Lincoln, the Wright Brothers. I think there’s like 30 or 40 different titles out there. And it really is fun to learn these individuals, to read their biographies, it’s done; definitely at a younger kid level, a younger being like elementary up through middle school kind of stuff. Although with some of where education is today, that could be appropriate for many older students as well.

Nonetheless, it is really fun to see somebody making an intentional effort to help kids engage in history and learn some of the narrative, learn some of the story so that we don’t come to the place that we are as susceptible to the lies and deception of things like the 1619 Project or like these narratives of critical race theory or like the Howard Zinn back in 1980 with this history of the American people where there’s so many blatant inaccurate attacks against America. Because people don’t know any of the individuals or the characters or the players, then they don’t know what the reality and truth is of the situation. So it’s great there’s people who are making efforts to do this kind of stuff.

David:

I like what Rob said too. He said, these are books that are written to help inspire kids to do great things. And inspiring kids to do great things is big because kids can do a whole lot more than what we think they can, particularly in this culture. What we show through history is, man, you had kids that were back in their early, early teens doing amazing things.

And I like what Rob has done in taking actual things from the Revolution and putting kids around it, because that would not have been unusual back then. We’ve talked in the Revolution, you’ve got an 8-year-old, John Quincy Adams, you’ve got other young people, 13-years-old, Andrew Jackson is a prisoner of war by the British, literally, for his involvement. So there’s these young kids’ involved.

But even this one, with this great chain across the Hudson, most people don’t have a clue what this is. But if the British had been able to sell the Navy up the Hudson River, they would have split the United States into and we would have had two massive battlefronts. And so keeping the British out of that river, it was a huge thing.

Tim:

Well, dad, I remember too as we were traveling as kids, one of the things that you really enjoyed growing up, you really liked your Western. So whether it was a Roy Rogers or John Wayne or Hopalong Cassidy, we can go down the list of some of these characters individuals. We watched a lot of old black and white VHS when we were home.

But I remember when you started liking some of the Louis L’Amour books. And one of the books from Louis L’Amour was the Ferguson Rifle. And Major Ferguson was one of the individuals from over. He was part of Great Britain in the American Revolution, and he had this rifle.

Nonetheless, what was really fun about a guy like Louis L’Amour is Louis L’Amour did so many things that were accurate for the time, for the period, for the setting. He would introduce new characters and you would live the story through that character. But that character interacted with real people who are part of the story.

And I remember when you first heard of Major Ferguson and you thought, I wonder if this guy is real. I went and looked him up and that actually led to you discovering and investigating more. And I say that only to give the context that this is part of what these stories are supposed to do, that it introduces you to real characters, to real moments, from history to real stories. And even though there are some individuals that we’re seeing the story through were not real, it’s helping kids and individuals, even parents, if you don’t know these stories, you can read this to your kids or grandkids, Rick, as you mentioned already, that’s part of the plan for you.

As you are engaging in this story, you are engaging in a very fun story that is factually based and will give you a very interesting perspective as part of the story of the American Revolution that a lot of people just don’t know, but that is actually real and documented. So it’s fun to see some of these stories unfolding, introducing real history through fun characters that can engage people in the conversation.

Again, I’m going to go back to the fact that for decades we didn’t have a lot of good or fun stories to point people to. And now it’s great to see God raising some people up, giving them a gifting to write some of these stories to help retell some of American history in a way that young people and even adults can engage and learn and grow in this process.

Rick:

Alright, folks, thanks for listening today. Be sure to visit the website wallbulderslive.com, lots more great information for you there. Anyway, check out wildbulderslive.com and be sure to listen to those programs for yourself, but also share them with your friends and family. I just think being a force multiplier, we said at the top of the program, is such an important piece in terms of turning the nation around.

We’re not going to be able to do this on our own. We’ve got to rally people. And I’m telling you, I promise you, I hear the testimonials every day. If you will raise the banner, people will rally. I see this with our constitution coaches all the time. We now have 11,000 constitution coaches around the country that are teaching these principles by simply sharing the videos, going through one of our constitution courses, and then letting people share together, sharpening each other’s countenance. It’s a great way to be involved.

If you want to be a part of that and host a biblical citizenship class, you can go to wallbuilders.com today and get the DVDs and the workbooks, you can go to biblicalcitizens.com today and sign up for some of the digital tools that we make available to you. But just get engaged. Start looking for ways to make a difference and impact the world around you. God bless you and thanks for listening. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.