RUSH: Folks, we have two brothers on the phone, Jay and Argen. They are 11 and 8 years old, and they are happy owners of Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. They wanted to call, they did call, and they’re here on the program wanting to talk about it. Jay and Argen, I’m Rush, and it’s great to have you here.
JAY: Hi. Thank you. Thanks for having me and my brother.
RUSH: It’s our honor to have you here. It’s great that you’re able to take time to call us today.
JAY: Yeah, I mean, your book was awesome. It was a great book about history. Me and my brother learned a ton about the Pilgrims, and Argen and me both took the quiz. We did fairly good. I got a 16 out of 18; he got a 15 out of 18.
RUSH: Really, you did? That’s awesome. That’s terrific, ’cause that quiz is not easy.
JAY: Yeah. I mean —
RUSH: I mean, you have to have read the book to be able to get that many right.
JAY: Yep. So Argen would like to say a few things about the book.
ARGEN: The book was really good. It was really… It was my first history book, so it was really fun.
RUSH: Now, Argen, I can’t thank you enough. This was your first history book. That’s just great. I can’t tell you how happy you guys are making me by telling me how much you liked it. That is just great, because it was written for guys like you, written for people like you.
JAY: Yeah, I mean, it really helped me out in school as well, and I learned a lot of the information, and, you know, it really stuck in my head and, you know, all the social studies, whenever it comes to the Pilgrims, I’ll probably ace it because I still remember this information about the book.
RUSH: Why do you think that is? Why do you think you’re going to remember it for that long?
JAY: Probably because it’s the first fun history book. You know, all the other history books, they’re very informative, they’re in chronological order. You basically just read the pictures most of the time and that’s not that fun. You don’t learn about that. But if you read a really fun history book, it sticks in your head — and, you know, you don’t forget it because you know you really like that book.
RUSH: Now, you’re Jay, right? I’m speaking with Jay?
JAY: Yeah.
RUSH: And how old are you, Jay?
JAY: I’m 11.
RUSH: This is just phenomenal. This is just a level of maturity that’s way beyond 11.
JAY: Oh, thank you.
RUSH: You could pass for much older.
JAY: Thank you.
RUSH: Well, no, I’m serious. You’re obviously a brilliant young man, and the fact that you enjoyed this book is a real compliment to me, and I can’t thank enough. You’ve made my day here, both of you have. I tell you what I’m gonna do. Do you have any sisters?
JAY: Yes, I do. I have one sister, and she is actually currently reading the book.
RUSH: How old is she?
JAY: She’s my twin sister. She’s 11, like me.
RUSH: Oh, cool. All right. Well, here’s what I’m gonna do. We got this thing called Ted-Tea Bear, and I’m gonna send you one that you can give to her.
JAY: Okay.
RUSH: I mean, if you want one, I’ll send you one, too.
JAY: Sure.
RUSH: Well, fine, I’ll tell you what, we’ll throw three of them in there.
JAY: Okay.
RUSH: We’ll throw three Ted-Tea Bears, and I’m also gonna throw in a couple of audio versions of me reading the book.
JAY: Oh, thanks.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah. That way you can listen to it whenever you have time, just to refresh your memory.
JAY: Thanks. That will really help me out a lot, listening to the audio versions. It will fly by much quicker.
RUSH: I do a pretty good job reading it, and I think you’ll find it as entertaining in its own different way from the book, but really you guys, you have made my day, because this is exactly why we wrote it, and I’m glad for Argen that he heard this version first, ’cause —
JAY: Yeah.
RUSH: This is the truth, Jay, this book is the truth. This is real history about the Pilgrims, and I’m just ecstatic that you guys encountered it.
JAY: Thank you. And also I have to give credit to my dad who bought me this book. You know, I didn’t know that you made books at first. I thought you were just, you know, a radio talk host.
RUSH: Right.
JAY: And I didn’t know you made history books, so my dad went out and bought me this book, and I’m just really thankful that he did.
RUSH: So am I. God bless you and your dad. Now, Jay, hang on, because we gotta get your address to send you all this stuff.
JAY: Okay.
RUSH: So don’t go away. Thanks again ever so much.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We go back to the phones — and, ladies and gentlemen, we have another 12-year-old who has read Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. No, he hadn’t finished it, actually, it says here. This is Ben in Maryville, Tennessee. Ben, are you still there?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Well, thank you. So it says here that you haven’t finished the book yet —
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: — but that you really like it?
CALLER: I have not finished the book. Yes, I really like it, and I think I’m on the page 119/120, and I just started it this week, so it’s really fast to read it.
RUSH: You are a fast reader.
CALLER: (laughs) Well, I’m fast on books that I really like.
RUSH: Yeah, I know, that’s exactly the way I am. If I’m reading something I don’t like, I just plod through it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, this is great. You’re on page 120. I mean, you’re roughly halfway through it.
CALLER: Yeah. There’s 201 pages, I think.
RUSH: Well, actually content, yeah. Now, let me ask: Ben, have you, in school, learned about the Pilgrims yet to any great degree? Have you learned much about them at all prior to reading this book.
CALLER: No. I’ve learned a whole lot more in this book so far than I have in school about the Pilgrims, like I did not know that they were called the Puritans.
RUSH: Yeah. See, you didn’t know?
CALLER: Unh-uh.
RUSH: That is… I wasn’t taught that, either. When I learned about the Puritans and the Victorians, all that came much later in school for me.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: I’ll tell you, one of the things that even for me when I was learning about the Pilgrims, was the religious aspect. I mean, I was told that they were fleeing religious persecution. I didn’t know, I wasn’t taught how deeply religious they were.
CALLER: Yeah, I didn’t know that, either, about them.
RUSH: Well, that’s great that you’re learning it, ’cause I guarantee you the story that you’re reading is the truth, and it’s —
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: — been so incorrectly written in a lot of classrooms, it’s taught in a way that really isn’t true. So that’s why I wrote it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: It’s exactly for people like you to be able to learn the truth about it, because that really is the root of the founding of the country.
CALLER: And I have a question.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: Well, it kind of seems to me like, since he’s a substitute, you’re gonna be able to write a series about different historical things. Are you going to write more books?
RUSH: Let me see if I understand the question. You said, “Since Rush Revere is a substitute teacher,” meaning —
CALLER: Yes. Like he could go to substitute another classroom and teach another historical thing. Like, are you gonna make more books?
RUSH: You think that’d be a good thing for there to be more?
CALLER: Yeah, ’cause I really feel like I could learn more from these books than I could in school.
RUSH: You know what? That’s important. I will keep that in mind as I determine what the future holds here.