That's why first graders at bartley elementary are brightening up their county's history with a little coloring.

History can be a messy subject, and when you color your way through it, you're bound to go outside the lines.

"The pictures in your color book are special pictures because they are part of the history of Callaway County," first grade teacher Kathleen Wilson said.

Before we got into the backstory of the county, we asked these budding artists if they even know what it is.

"It's kind of hard to say," first grader Evejana Williams said.

First-grader Kelbie Brinegar didn't believe me when KOMU-8's Megan Murphy told him that's where he lives.

"I live right out in the country where that gravel is. Remember where Truman Road is? That gravel road. Where that big pond is. 7474," Kelbie said.

Thankfully, Wilson cleared it up.

"Right here in the middle of Missouri is Callaway County where you and I live," she said. "There was a really big war that you and I are going to learn about soon. It was called the civil war," Wilson said.

But these first graders' versions of what happened in their county are often times more entertaining than reality.

"The brothers have a fight and they're having a fight with their flags," Tawney said.

And good old Daniel Boone, Carly said he's just "a man camping out somewhere."

So Wilson cleared that one up as well.

"He helped people find Missouri so that we would move and live here in Missouri," she said.

Artist Paul Johnson drew a coloring book in hopes of increasing membership for the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society.

"The way you reach people is through their children. And the way you reach children is through a coloring book," Johnson said.

He hopes the coloring book will get kids and their parents excited about their local history.

Johnson has a favorite drawing.

"I like the mules a lot," he said.

And Evejana agrees, even though, to her, they're horses.

"I went to go see my aunt and she has a lot of horses and that kind of stuff and some almost ate my hair," Evejana said.

She and Kelbie have a different take on the picture of the nuclear power plant, too.

"[It's] a volcano," Evejana said.

"My nana told me if there's a volcano coming - straight to her house. My nana told me to get into papa's closet," Kelbie said.

After Wilson's explanation of the power plant, first grader Gavin Cruickshank got a handle on the situation.

"It's electricity and I made it blue that's why!" he said.

Brightening the history of your county can be exhausting.

With pink power plants, a green Daniel Boone, Winston Churchill as, according to kelbie, "a king" and deisel trucks having been attacked by a rainbow, these first graders are learning the colors of their history.

The coloring books are available at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society for $2.