Gr 3-8-One Dead Spy begins as Nathan Hale is about to be hanged. He was not a very good spy. But in the hands of Nathan Hale, the present-day graphic novelist, he makes an excellent narrator. American history is hilarious in these lively, rigorously researched, visually engaging stories. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
The history books tell us that Nathan Hale, Revolutionary War hero, was hanged for spying in 1776. They don't mention that, before he died, he was swallowed by a giant, magical history book, which imbued him with full knowledge of the future and returned him to the gallows so he could recount the story of the war to a British soldier and a slightly dimwitted hangman. Another Nathan Hale, comics author and also illustrator of Rapunzel's Revenge (2008) and Calamity Jack (2010), uses this device to launch a new Revolutionary War-centric historical series. The tone and humor remind one of Steve Sheinkin's exceedingly clever anti-textbooks (King George: What Was His Problem?, 2008), but, though biographical notes and further readings are included, several relationships, motives, and even Hale's presence at certain events are pure conjecture. So, though this is not ideal for straight facts, there is a great deal of charm, both in the characters and in the cartoonish and evocative panels that crowd the digest-sized pages. This first book in Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales imbues some personality into the history.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist
Gr 3-8-One Dead Spy begins as Nathan Hale is about to be hanged. He was not a very good spy. But in the hands of Nathan Hale, the present-day graphic novelist, he makes an excellent narrator. American history is hilarious in these lively, rigorously researched, visually engaging stories. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
