"Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Paul Revere's Ride")

In Charles River Editors' History for Kids series, your children can learn about history's most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. The concise but comprehensive book will keep your kid's attention all the way to the end.

Paul Revere is one of the most famous Americans in history and one of the first that schoolchildren learn about. Although he is known almost entirely for his legendary midnight ride before the Battles of Lexington and Concord today, in colonial Boston he was praised for the quality of the silver he made, and he was known for being one of the patriotic Sons of Liberty and a militiaman. With 16 children, Paul Revere supported his large family by doing everything from dentistry to casting church bells and engraving the most popular image of the Boston Massacre. His ability to roll copper into sheets made his work even more valuable to ship construction around Boston.

Given everything he did for Boston and his community, it would have greatly surprised Revere at the end of his life if he had known he would become an American legend for his midnight ride on the night of April 18, 1775. Revere was one of several midnight riders on that night, and he was actually captured by the British in the middle of the ride, which prevented him from ever reaching the destination of Concord. Revere was escorted back toward Lexington by the British that morning.