Lane Smith’s funny, irreverent, highly unreliable account of several well-known figures in our nation’s struggle for independence from Britain gets an added lift with references to the twentieth-century British invasion involving four lads from Liverpool. John (Hancock), Paul (Revere), George (Washington) and Ben (Franklin), along with Tom (Jefferson), each played a significant role in the founding of America. But what about their formative years? Smith turns the facts upside down and inside out, fabricating a series of hilarious childhood incidences to underscore the best-known quality of each one’s character (“George was an honest lad . . . Ben was a clever lad . . . Tom was an independent lad.”) From Paul Revere’s youthful job selling underwear to John Hancock’s confident blackboard scrawl, the facts are few and far between but the humor is abundant. Smith clears up any misconceptions in a final section called “Taking Liberties: Wherein we set the record straight with ye olde True or False section.” (Age 7 and older)

Once there were four lads...
John [Hancock],
Paul [Revere],
George [Washington],
and Ben [Franklin].
Oh yes, there was also Tom [Jefferson], but he was annoyingly independent and hardly ever around.
These lads were always getting into trouble for one reason or another. In other words, they took a few...liberties. And to be honest, they were not always appreciated.
This is the story of five little lads before they became five really big Founding Fathers.