Some Fascinating Nuggets (Including Chicken Nuggets) About Higher Ed

If there’s an Ivy Leaguer in your world, you definitely want to give that person Lions, Tigers, and…Bulldogs? An unofficial guide to the legends and lore of the Ivy League by Matt Robinson (available at www.lionstigersbulldogs.com).

The book is only about 30 pages long, but it’s packed with fun and intriguing facts about all of the Ivy League schools and about the League itself.

For example, did you know that the stairwells in the science library at Brown University (the roof of which is apparently also the highest point in Providence) are color-coded to the pH scale or that the chicken nugget was invented at one of the Ivy Leagues (which I shall choose to keep a mystery)? This is the type of what Matt calls Tr-IVY-a© that can be found in this book.

Matt is a Proud Penn Quaker, captain of the school’s boxing team and a writer of the Penn Band’s often infamous halftime shows. In this latter capacity, Matt deepened his fascination with the various school mascots that he had discovered when attending games at Brown with his late father (to whom the book is dedicated).

Though it started as a book about the mascots, Lions, Tigers, and… Bulldogs? includes information on many other aspects of these historic schools, including their histories, famous alumni, and importance to society at large.

For example, in addition to giving the nation many presidents and great inventions, the Ivy League schools also helped popularize professional sports and led to fraternity gatherings and other events that have brought people of widely divergent backgrounds together.

While Matt has been a professional writer for over 25 years, this is his first book. He says he was most encouraged to put other assignments (many of which helped him make his living) aside and focus on the book when his father was diagnosed with dementia.

Matt realized that he wanted this idea to come to fruition no matter what it took. After five years, Matt came out with this delightful book, and I, for one, am glad that he did!

Lions, Tigers, and…Bulldogs? makes a great gift for alumni, students, and even those who may be applying to these schools. After all, what better way to set yourself apart during an admissions interview than to surprise the interviewer with a fun fact about their school that they might not even know themselves! Perhaps that their school was the birthplace of chicken nuggets!

If you want to find out which school that was, however, you’ll have to read Matt’s book!