We just finished reading a short biography of Emilio Aguinaldo this week. I’ve read and discussed Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio with my 9 year old son, and this is the first Filipino biography of my 6 year old daughter. She wants to read about Rizal and Bonifacio as well but I’m thinking of reading about Gabriela Silang next, which I’m sure she will love.

Some details that caught their attention:

that Aguinaldo became town mayor when he was only 25 years old

that Katipuneros had secret code names

that the Katipuneros chose Aguinaldo over Bonifacio

that Bonifacio was ill treated by fellow Filipinos

that Filipinos won a lot of battles against Spanish soldiers

that Aguinaldo pretended to be dead by covering his face with blood during one of the battles

that the Spaniards negotiated with the Americans for a mock battle

that Spaniards refused to surrender to Filipinos 

that the Spaniards sold Philippines to the United States for 20 million dollars 

that Filipinos (called Macabebes) were paid by Americans to turn their backs on fellow Filipinos.

We don’t usually do “projects”,  but here they are working on a “newspaper” right after we finished the biography. And daughter wants it distributed to the whole neighborhood.

Glad the enthusiasm is there 🙂 

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We use the Great Lives Series by Tahanan Books for all our Filipino Biography Studies.