{"id":15394,"date":"2026-07-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=15394"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:35:44","slug":"americas-founding-myths-and-what-really-happened-by-christy-mihaly-marta-sevilla-mg-nonfiction-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=15394","title":{"rendered":"AMERICA&#8217;S FOUNDING MYTHS&#8230;and What Really Happened! by Christy Mihaly &amp; Marta Sevilla (MG nonfiction book review)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"201\" height=\"237\" data-attachment-id=\"15455\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?attachment_id=15455\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/America-Founding-Myths.png?fit=679%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"679,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"America Founding Myths\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/America-Founding-Myths.png?fit=679%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/America-Founding-Myths.png?resize=201%2C237&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Book title Barefoot Books America's Founding Myths...and What Really Happened! in circle surrounded by collaged images of historical artworks ornamented by bright cutouts, including Jefferson with cheerleader megaphone shouting &quot;We Declare Independence&quot;, portrait with added crown and flowers overlaid with &quot;Columbus discovered America?&quot;, statue of Native American warrior, sailing ship with cartoon people and caption &quot;Freedom for all?&quot;, etching of a galloping horse with cartoon rider and words &quot;The British are coming?\" class=\"wp-image-15455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/America-Founding-Myths.png?resize=201%2C237&amp;ssl=1 201w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/America-Founding-Myths.png?resize=127%2C150&amp;ssl=1 127w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/America-Founding-Myths.png?w=679&amp;ssl=1 679w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Everybody knows it&#8217;s true that\u2026&#8221; <br \/>Nope, they really don&#8217;t &#8211; <br \/>especially about early US history! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This large-format book begins by wondering &#8220;Where does history come from?&#8221; as it calls for readers to be historians and ask questions so they can better understand the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fifteen myths &#8211; from the &#8220;empty&#8221; New World and Columbus to the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving to the common (incorrect) belief that women, Black Americans, and Indigenous people didn&#8217;t participate in the Revolution &#8211; are questioned, each clarifying its events, identifying people and social trends, and leaving the reader with a final question to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unique is the page setup where &#8220;The Myth&#8221; is noted on a large flap covering part of the left page, with the myth&#8217;s origin on the inside of the flap and the true story told across the double-page spread. Several pages have a lift-the-flap True or False question, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well-spaced blocks of text make it easy to dip into a myth and quickly encounter something interesting to consider. Many historical images are used as illustrations, collaged with vivid captions, painted cartoon people, clip art, teddy bears, and a dinosaur or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Readers of all ages will learn something new and begin to think more carefully before accepting any single history textbook paragraph as &#8220;the&#8221; truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What historical &#8220;fact&#8221; have you changed your mind about as you learned more?<br \/>**kmm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Book info<\/strong>: America&#8217;s Founding Myths\u2026and What Really Happened! \/ Christy Mihaly; art by Marta Sevilla. Barefoot Books, 2026. [author site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christymihaly.com\/writing.html\">https:\/\/www.christymihaly.com\/writing.html<\/a>] [illustrator site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.martasevilla.es\/books\">https:\/\/www.martasevilla.es\/books<\/a>] [publisher site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barefootbooks.com\/americas-founding-myths\">https:\/\/www.barefootbooks.com\/americas-founding-myths<\/a>] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"714\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GV_CdzxUAG0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Everybody knows it&#8217;s true that\u2026&#8221; Nope, they really don&#8217;t &#8211; especially about early US history! This large-format book begins by wondering &#8220;Where does history come from?&#8221; as it calls for readers to be historians and ask questions so they can better understand the past. Fifteen myths &#8211; from the &#8220;empty&#8221; New World and Columbus to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[157,50,23],"tags":[163,7,4,11,5,37,16,214,505,221,111,35,33,6,8,59,507],"class_list":["post-15394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-historical","category-nonfiction","tag-african-american","tag-beliefs","tag-belonging","tag-communication","tag-coping","tag-death","tag-determination","tag-massachusetts","tag-native-american","tag-new-england","tag-non-us-artist","tag-surprises","tag-survival","tag-travel","tag-us-author","tag-war","tag-women"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15394"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15460,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15394\/revisions\/15460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}