Even coloring books aren't safe . . .

from historical revisionism. Case in point, the "Story of the Pilgrims" coloring book published by Dover of which I bought two copies for my daughters to use as part of our November studies leading up to Thanksgiving.

The "story" as told by the creators of these visually appealing books has a huge gaping hole in it.

It seems as though the Pilgrims were nothing more than a bunch of restless hippie-types who just "wanted to be free."

You know, leave behind their businesses, their homes and schools, their families, their familiar lives just to spend 66 days on a cramped, wet, dark, and sea-tossed boat on its way to a land of snakes, snow, and potentially hostile indians.

Groovy, man.

In reality, for anyone reading this who may have received their American history education from the likes of a Dover coloring book, the Pilgrims were originally the Separatists of England who did not want to attend the state church and thus endured all sorts of penalties -- jail time, fines, confiscations -- to worship according to their interpretation of the Bible. When their foray into Holland didn't work out, they gambled on God and stuffed themselves into the Mayflower for an arduous journey to a place where religious freedom was possible.

IT WAS ALL ABOUT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, but you'd never know this by reading the Dover coloring book.

Infuriated, I fired off a letter to Dover, grilled my girls extensively on their understanding of the reason behind the Pilgrims' journey and the First Thanksgiving, and then relegated the coloring books to the bin where we keep miscellaneous coloring and activity books "just for scribbling and fun."

I could not, in good conscience, incorporate the misleading story into our academic studies although in a way I did just that.

I used the books to teach my daughters about historical revisionism and the importance of reading with a critical eye. I shared with them my personal opinion as to why Dover left out this key information and reminded them that a lie by omission is as bad as a lie by commission.