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Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame:
One Father's Gift to His Children
Becomes a Gift for All America's Children!
Twelve-year-old Anthony, of Seattle, Washington, claims that he traveled back in time by stepping through a magical picture frame on his bedroom wall. He claims he spent many years exploring America's past.
"I worked with Thomas Edison on the phonograph, the light bulb, and the motion picture camera,” says the young time-traveler. "I stood on the moon with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I was on Normandy beach on D-Day."
John Curley and Jim Dever, hosts of Seattle's popular King 5 TV show, Evening Magazine, uncovered the secret behind Anthony's time-travel claim: It's all part of a new book by Seattle author Michael Class.
Class used advanced digital photography to place his twelve year-old son, Anthony, in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Neil Armstrong, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day. Father and son labored for nearly four years in their garage filled with props from an army surplus store; the Evening Magazine team saw the garage walls covered with blue bed sheets. The result of the photographic magic: It looks like Anthony really did meet Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, FDR, Lou Gehrig, Charles Lindbergh, and Audie Murphy.
"I wanted to capture the interest of today's kids," says Class, "by turning American history into a grand time travel adventure." The book, Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame, is recommended for young adults, grade 6 to grade 12.
• AS SEEN ON TV! •
CLICK HERE to watch the Evening Magazine TV Show. See how the award-winning book was made! Get a sneak peek of the next book in the series.
The book is fun for kids, but Class designed the book to help parents, teachers, and homeschoolers, too. Years of meticulous research went into the book: Class spoke with relatives of famous scientists and inventors, Holocaust survivors, award-winning biographers, and others to ensure that the facts of the book were both accurate and vivid. Historical accuracy rules every page: even Anthony’s conversations with the people of the past are based on things they really said, all properly footnoted. Class also included built-in curriculum aids: recommendations for 461 books, 595 movies, 217 songs, and 155 places to visit, all keyed to the subjects of each chapter. The author’s Web site includes a fun final exam.
Anthony's adventures in American history come with a moral lesson, another facet of the book with strong appeal for parents. The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is one of a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about business and the benefits of hard work. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. When Anthony meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island in 1907, it's really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.
The Evening Magazine TV crew got the scoop on plans for the second book in the Magic Picture Frame series. In the next book, Class intends to send his 16-year-old daughter, Angela, into American history to meet famous women and to see history from a young woman's perspective. Angela is a character in the first book, but she is not pictured.
"I am choosing the heroes I want to meet," says Angela. "So far, I've decided to meet Julliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts; Annie Oakley, the famous sharpshooter; Harriet Tubman, the operator of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War; Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross; Bessie Coleman, America's first Black female pilot; Dorothea Lange, the famous documentary photographer of the Great Depression; Babe Dedrickson, the first woman to win three Olympic Gold Medals; and Jackie Cochran, the leader of the Women Air Service Pilots during World War II."
The second book, too, will emphasize important lessons from history.
“Whether or not you believe that Anthony really traveled into the past,” says Class jokingly, “the book’s message is an important one. History is not a bunch of boring names and dates. History is alive with adventure. History is full of moral lessons for today. Anthony learned that the heroes of the past have something important to tell us: that the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose, and doing the right thing always matters.”
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame was named Outstanding Book of the Year by Independent Publisher (2006); awarded the Parent-to-Parent Adding Wisdom Award for Excellent Books (2007); is a celebrated winner of an iParenting Media Award for Excellent Products (2007), was named Reviewers Choice by Midwest Book Review (2006); and garnered Editor's Pick by Homefires: The Journal of Homeschooling Online (2006). Nationally syndicated talk-show host Michael Medved calls the book "entertaining and educational."
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin says "parents and teachers will appreciate the inspiring message this unique history book holds for America's next generation. I recommend this book to all young Americans, may they take us to the stars and beyond."
Watch the Magic Picture Frame video.
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