Caramel reviews Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #8: Lafayette! by Nathan Hale

Caramel loves history and he loves graphic novels. So Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales are perhaps the ultimate series for him. (Except there are no dragons or robots in these books! Oh well…) So as you might expect, he has already read several of these quirky books and reviewed them for the book bunnies blog. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about Lafayette, the eighth book in the series, first published in 2018.

Sprinkles: So here we are, with yet another Nathan Hale book. This is called Lafayette! And it is book eight, right?

Caramel: Yep, and what a good eighth book it is!y

S: Glad you have enjoyed this one too! 

C: Yep, so am I.

S: So Lafayette is a French man from the American Revolution days. His full name was apparently Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, but in the United States people called him Lafayette. Wikipedia tells us that he volunteered to help the Continental Army led by George Washington and commanded the troops “in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in 1781, the Revolutionary War’s final major battle, which secured American independence.” And then he went back to France and got involved with the French Revolution. As a result he “continues to be celebrated as a hero in both France and the United States.”

C: Yeah, he was a really good fighter, wasn’t he?

S: It seems like it. What part of the story does Nathan Hale tell us?

C: The part of him helping the Americans by coming from France and fighting alongside the American colonists rebelling against the British Crown. 

S: That’s cool! You remember the song from Hamilton about Lafayette and the Battle of Yorktown? 

C: Yep, it was good. Marshmallow really liked it!

S: Yeah, it says “Everyone give it up for America’s favorite fighting Frenchman: Lafayette!” That’s where I first learned about the details of the role he played in the American Revolutionary War. But I bet you knew about Lafayette before that, no?

C: Well, not really. I was really small when Hamilton came out, remember?

S: That’s true. But at least you knew of him before you began to read this book. 

C: Yep, and it helped a lot.  Because, you know, a lot was happening in the book, and knowing a bit about who was who helped me keep track of things.

S: Okay, so who besides Lafayette is in the book then? 

C: All the other big names from those times. George Washington, of course. Then, Alexander Hamilton, William Howe, Benedict Arnold, and some others.

S: And you are right, there are so many things to remember about each of these people and each of the different battles and such, I can see how knowing a bit of something before you start reading could be helpful. But it is after all a graphic novel. You would probably still get something out of reading it even if you had known nothing about any of these people. 

C: Yeah, it explains some of the lives of the other characters. And yes, I would have still learned a lot. 

S: So given that you did know a bunch already, did you still learn something new?

C: Yep, some things about what Lafayette did came as new to me. For example, I did not know that he joined the war as a young man of around twenty. They were all really young men. Hamilton was in his early twenties too. 

S: That sounds incredible. 

C: Washington was in his forties though. Much older. 

S: As the adult in this conversation, and of some considerable age, I should remind you that the forties are still not too old! 

C: Don’t get touchy Sprinkles!! I know you are always young, at heart at least!!

S: Okay play, I know you are still so young… Anyways, the book worked! You liked it!

C: Yes! These books are good! And I am ready for book nine! 

S: Okay, that sounds reasonable to me. But it will have to wait till next week. 

C: I can still start reading it!

S: Sure you can! So this might be a good time to wrap this up then. What would you like to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!