Our Constitution Rocks by Juliette Turner

I spent five years researching my novel on the Constitutional Convention, Tempest at Dawn. I wish I had made things as clear as Juliette Turner has done in Our Constitution Rocks. I should have known. My wife taught me that when I needed a quick, clear perspective on a subject, I should start with a book aimed at middle-schoolers. She was right. When they're done right, they are educational, concise, clear, and fun. Juliette Turner has hit all of these targets.

"This is an important book," is a cliche of the publishing industry. Nonetheless, Our Constitution Rocks is an important book. Understanding our constitution is important for every citizen, but crucially important for the young who will lead our nation in the decades ahead. If you're an adult, you can also take my wife's advice and start your own study of the Constitution right here with this book. In fact, there's probably few better ways to spend some time with your child. The Constitution is every American's birthright. We should take it out from under glass and examine it at every opportunity. Juliette Turner has done our nation a service.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was on a Glenn Beck program with Janine Turner and met Juliette at the taping. Since then, I have written articles for Constituting America, which was founded by Janine Turner and Cathy Gillespie. You can watch Juliette Turner read one of my essays below. Despite a distant professional relationship, I highly recommend this book and hope that many parents give a copy to their kids for Christmas.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 – Essay #83 –Amendment Twenty-Seven – Guest Essayist: James D. Best from Constituting America on Vimeo.

Tempest at Dawn is a novelization of the 1787 Federal Convention that we now call the Constitutional Convention.