These words by Michael Clay Thompson are undeniably true. However, we might amend them to include the following caveat: Being educated is about what you have read and remembered.

Most ordinary textbooks are forgettable. Kids learn something from them and then forget the information almost immediately after the test. If we want our children to be educated, they have to retain what they’ve learned. And that is the goal of nearly everything we publish at Royal Fireworks Press.

On the 4th of July, a day that symbolizes the spirit of independence and the birth of our great nation, we invite you to embark on a memorable journey through our Adventures on the American Frontier history series.

This series is an excellent example of books that inform in a way that stays with kids long after they turn the last page. They’re filled with stories about real people who did hard things to shape the United States into what it is today. History is an easy subject to become overwhelmed in; it can feel like a jumble of facts and dates and names that seem too distant, either in time or place, to care about.

But when you read stories, you turn those facts and dates and names into something personal. You like the guy in the story. You appreciate his grit. You want him to succeed. Or maybe you don’t like the guy. He’s hard-headed. But he succeeds because of that, and you take a lesson from it. Either way, you remember the guy, and you learn from the story.

The best thing about the Adventures series is that it also comes in a version that is specially designed for dyslexic kids and kids with other types of visual processing disorders. The books are in a special font and include pictures and narration to help kids envision the stories. Many of the dyslexia-friendly books out there help struggling readers work out the words, but do they contain anything important? Do they teach anything of substance? Sure, kids can read them, but the books don’t DO anything to enrich children’s minds and push them forward in their learning. Well, we said no to that. If they’re reading, let them be reading something worthwhile.

How do we know that these books are truly educational—not just read but read and remembered? Because that’s what happened to us just from working on them.

The stories in these books connect us to the world around us in often-surprising ways. We shoot each other texts on the weekends:

“Hey, I just drove past Cabeza de Vaca Street!”
“Ha! No kidding? I remember him from Brave Men of Early Texas. Very cool.”

“Did you see that they made an HBO series about Stede Bonnet?”
“No! Landlubber Pirate! Is Blackbeard in it too?”
“Yep!”

Being educated is about what you have read.

Check out the Adventures on the American Frontier series today, and give your child the gift of a lifetime of knowledge. As a bonus, all of these books are available in packages that include free shipping! Wishing you a joyous and enlightening Independence Day!