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Caramel reviews Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #12: Above the Trenches by Nathan Hale

Caramel has read and reviewed several books in Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, the historical graphic novel series by Nathan Hale. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about the twelfth book in the series, Above the Trenches, published first in 2023.

Sprinkles: Here we are, with another Nathan Hale book. This time we are back to World War I, I am assuming.

Caramel: Yes. The other Nathan Hale book about WWI was Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood. And I reviewed it a while back.

S: So tell us a bit more then. The war lasted for four years. A lot happened. What is this particular book about?

C: The fights in the skies, the flying aces of WWI.

S: So I am guessing then that the title is Above the Trenches because the book is about a different part of the war, different from the trench warfare that is associated so closely with WWI.

C: Yup.

S: And for anyone like me who did not know this before, according to Wikipedia, “a flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace varies, but is usually considered to be five or more.” As far as I recall, WWI was the first war where airplanes were used, right?

C: Yes.

S: So then I suppose it makes sense that the whole book would be about that.

C: Yeah, it’s mostly about the Lafayette Escadrille, a French squadron of American pilots, and the German aces, and a man named Strange.

S: Hmm, the Wikipedia article talks about the first Ace, a Frenchman named Adolphe Pégoud. And some famous German ones listed are Max Immelmann, Oswald Boelcke, and Manfred von Richthofen. So do you remember these names? Do they all appear in the book?

C: Yes, almost all of them do, but I don’t remember if Max Immelmann was. But I do remember that Pégoud was killed by a German pilot he had trained. It is sad.

S: Yes, it is, isn’t it? Then again almost everything about war is sad.

C: True.

Caramel is reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #12: Above the Trenches by Nathan Hale. — Caramel is reading *Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #12: Above the Trenches* by Nathan Hale.

S: But in this book you read about some amazing feats that these pilots were able to accomplish. And they did all that, using aircraft which would be pretty primitive for our times, right?

C: Yes. The most famous one today is probably the German von Richthofen. Even if you don’t know much about warfare in the air, you probably remember Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog, sitting on top of his doghouse and flying an airplane?

S: Yes.. ?

C: Yes, and he was always flying against the Red Baron, remember? The Red Baron is von Richhofen.

S: Oh, that makes a lot of sense now!

C: By the way, the Red Baron is not even mentioned as a great ace, at first. The book first introduces him as a not-too-great pilot, then shows his later victories.

S: What do you mean? So he improves through the years?

C: No, it’s more like he was good, but when he finally got into the flow of his plane, he became really good.

S: I guess that makes sense. He needed to learn and get used to the plane he was using. And why is he known as the Red Baron?

C: One of his planes was actually bright red, and that’s why.

S: Cool, that is very interesting! Okay, so did you learn a lot from this book? I know you know a lot about warcraft and tanks and fighter planes. Was there anything new for you in this book?

C: Of course! I didn’t know all the names of the aces, and the existence of the Lafayette Escadrille was new to me. They were the very first American pilots to fight in WWI and they fought for the French. They were called the Lafayette Escadrille after the great Marquis de Lafayette, who was the main topic of Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #8: Lafayette!

S: That is neat. I did not know any of that, either. So this might be your last Nathan Hale book for a while. I am not sure if there is a thirteenth book.

C: Nooooooo! But you know, I waited and waited for all this time for a sixteenth Wings of Fire book, and it is coming out next week! So maybe if I wait and wait for it, there will be a thirteenth Nathan Hale book, too!

S: Yes, let us hope! In the meantime there are other books you can read.

C:Yes, like the sixteenth Wings of Fire book!

S: Alright, let us not get this excited so late in the evening. It is soon going to be bedtime.

C: Hmm, that is correct.

S: So let us wrap this review up. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews! Oh, and Nathan Hale, please please please write more Hazardous Tales!

Caramel enjoyed reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #12: Above the Trenches by Nathan Hale and is wondering when he will get to read a new Nathan Hale book (hoping that it will be soon). — Caramel enjoyed reading *Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #12: Above the Trenches* by Nathan Hale and is wondering when he will get to read a new Nathan Hale book (hoping that it will be soon).

Caramel reviews Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11: Cold War Correspondent by Nathan Hale

Caramel has read and reviewed several books in Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, the historical graphic novel series by Nathan Hale. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about the eleventh book in the series, Cold War Correspondent, published first in 2021.

Sprinkles: Here we are, with another Nathan Hale book.

Caramel: Yes, we are! And this one is about the Cold War, brr.

S: That’s funny! The Cold War is called the Cold War not because it is really cold temperature-wise though.

C: Well, I know of course. It is cold in the sense that it is not hot, like armies are not openly fighting, there is no open fire of one army attacking another. So no fire. So Cold.

S: You know so much Caramel! Here is how Wikipedia defines it:

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which began in the aftermath of the Second World War[A] and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars.

C: Actually the book is about a hot war which was a part of the Cold War. To be specific, the Korean War. One of those proxy wars I suppose, but the United States did have soldiers fighting in it, just not directly against the Soviet Union.

S: Oh, that makes sense. And I am assuming there is a journalist involved somehow, the correspondent in the title.

C: Yeah, the book is specifically about Marguerite Higgins. She was a war correspondent, a journalist who wrote about World War 2 and many other smaller wars, for the New York Herald Tribune.

S: That is so interesting, Caramel. I of course know about the Korean War, but I had not heard of Higgins. She seems to have been a very brave woman. So the story in the book is the story of the Korean War through Higgins’ eyes?

C: Yes, she is the narrator for this book, and she pops up from the hanging tree, or more so down from the tree.

S: The tree of Nathan Hale, you mean? So do we not see Nathan Hale in this one?

C: No, we do, but he’s not the main narrator this time, more so of a commentary.

S: That is different from the other books, right?

C: Yes, it is. In most of the other books, he is not a commenter, he is the narrator, or at least the main narrator.

S: I guess it just worked best this way for this book then. Okay, so did you learn some new things from this book? Did you know about the Korean War or the Cold War or Marguerite Higgins before?

C: Yeah, of course, I knew about the Cold War, and I knew a bit about the Korean War, but not about Higgins. This was a good perspective change.

Caramel is reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11: Cold War Correspondent by Nathan Hale. — Caramel is reading *Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11: Cold War Correspondent* by Nathan Hale.

S: In what way?

C: This showed how badly prepared the South Koreans and the US were. They expected an attack and were preparing for it, but not effectively enough. They had no tanks, planes, artillery, or even armor-piercing bazooka rounds that worked, and among the things they had, many were duds. Meanwhile the North Koreans had almost a full air force and 150 Soviet T-34 tanks, the tanks that let the Soviets take Berlin in the Second World War.

S: I did not know any of these details either, Caramel. So of course the South would suffer dramatically given such a disparity.

C: Yes, so the United States called for the United Nations to help. And about fifteen to twenty nations joined in with the United States to defend South Korea. And that war lasted a few years.

S: And the book is about all that?

C: No, it’s mostly about Higgins and her experiences in Korea, not all of the war.

S: I guess the author decided to include a snapshot from the Cold War in his series. That makes sense to me.

C: Yeah, this is the only book about the Cold War so far. The next one will be about World War 1.

S: So you are all ready to move to the next one! But wait, wasn’t there another Nathan Hale book about World War 1?

C: Yes! It is the second book I reviewed from the series: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #2: Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood.

S: And you are ready for more?

C: Yup.

S: Okay, so this is probably a good place to wrap this up then.

C: Sure.

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11: Cold War Correspondent by Nathan Hale and talking about it too. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11: Cold War Correspondent* by Nathan Hale and talking about it too.

Caramel reviews Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #10: Blades of Freedom by Nathan Hale

Caramel loves history and he loves graphic novels. So it is no surprise that he has enjoyed Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, the historical graphic novel series by Nathan Hale. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about the tenth book in the series, Blades of Freedom, published first in 2020.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, it has been a while since you reviewed a Nathan Hale book.

Caramel: Yes it has. The last Nathan Hale book I reviewed was all the way back in May 2025!

S: But we finally were able to get a few more of them into your paws, and you immediately began to read them all.

C: Yes, I see a couple more Nathan Hale book reviews in our near future.

S: I like that! So tell me what this one is about.

C: This is about Napoleon’s rise, and the revolution in Haiti.

S: Wait! Those are all more or less French history, no? I thought the Nathan Hale books were mainly about the history of the United States.

C: Well, think again, this one isn’t, except where Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the United States.

S: Hmm, I see. Also Haiti is in the Western hemisphere, so that also makes sense to me. And the revolution in Haiti was important for the whole Western hemisphere of course.

C: And apparently it is more or less the reason why Napoleon ended up selling the whole Louisiana territory to the then-young United States.

S: I guess this is again a story which informs a significant part of our understanding of the history of the United States.

C: Yeah, sure. But it is definitely a lot more about Napoleon and the revolution in Haiti. That is where the title is coming from after all: blades of freedom is about the freedom of the enslaved in Haiti.

S: Hmm, when you say it that way, the “Blades” part kind of sounds bloody.

C: Well, we all know the French Revolution was very bloody. The Haitian one did not lack in bloodshed either.

Caramel is reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #10: Blades of Freedom by Nathan Hale. — Caramel is reading *Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #10: Blades of Freedom* by Nathan Hale.

S: I guess it is hard to have a revolution that is totally peaceful. But tell me more about the book.

C: Sure. Just like the earlier Nathan Hale books, it has some great characters. It has Napoleon, two cats, and the leaders and catalysts of the Haiti revolution, Francois Mackandal, Dutty Boukman,, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and Toussaint L’Ouverture.

S: Other than the two cats, those sound like real historical characters, Caramel.

C: Yep, and the cats are not real but funny.

S: And is Nathan Hale still narrating this story too?

C: Yes, it’s one of Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, so of course he is still narrating. You can see him on some of the pages.

S: So I am assuming you have learned some good amount of history again.

C: Yeah, I did. I had learned about the Louisiana purchase at school, but I didn’t know much about the reasons behind why France wanted to sell, other than they were at war, which was I guess true-ish. But they also did not have a good way to connect their European land to the North American territory once they lost Haiti, so in some very real sense, it seems like they wanted to cut their losses and leave.

S: That makes sense to me.

C: I also did not know that much about Napoleon Bonaparte before this. The book basically tells all his life story.

S: That is great Caramel! So I am guessing you enjoyed this book and will want to read the eleventh book next.

C: Yep, I did and I will.

S: Great! I think this might be a good time to wrap up this review.

C: Sure.

S: What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #10: Blades of Freedom by Nathan Hale and is excited to be reading more from Nathan Hale again. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #10: Blades of Freedom* by Nathan Hale and is excited to be reading more from Nathan Hale again.

Caramel reviews Ultimate Spy by H. Keith Melton

Today Caramel reviews Ultimate Spy by H. Keith Melton, published in 2002. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So what is this book about Caramel?

Caramel: This is about the equipment and weapons that spies use.

S: I see. After reading so many Spy School books, you needed to get to some of the facts!

C: Yep. You know me and facts. I like them.

S: Okay, so what kind of equipment and weapons are we talking about here?

C: Some of them are really cool gadgets, like the match box pistol.

S: Sounds like something out of a James Bond movie. What is the match box pistol?

C: Yes, it sounds like it’s from a movie and it does look like it, too. It basically looks like a metal match box, but a barrel can be attached, and it can shoot one bullet. So you can carry it around without anyone being suspicious that you are carrying a weapon. Or you could simply let it sit on a coffee table and they would not suspect anything.

S: I see. That is cunning.

C: Yes, it is, it’s crazy. There are so many little and big things that they have made that spies can use as secret weapons.

S: And these are real, not for movie sets and such?

C: Yep, they are all things that were used at some point.

S: Oh wait, you used the past tense. So these are real but maybe no longer classified, like the government no longer needs to keep them secret.

C: Yeah, at least I think so. The author is a historian and the foreword of the book is written by some real people from the intelligence world. Some guy named Richard Helms who was apparently a former director of the CIA and Markus Wolf who was the former head of the East German Foreign Intelligence Service, the HVA. This is the real CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency! And I didn’t know about the HVA, but now I do.

S: Wow! That is pretty cool. This all probably means that they have a lot of other cool stuff they are using these days, and we don’t know about them.

C: Yeah, most likely a lot. And this book was published all the way back in 2002, so definitely they must have a lot of new tools and gadgets that they are not telling us about.

S: I did notice that our copy is from 2002. There is apparently a newer edition, from 2015.

C: Oh, that is cool. Maybe that edition has a few new things. But this book was more than good enough; it definitely has enough neat things to keep me busy!

S: I can see that!

Caramel is reading Ultimate Spy by H. Keith Melton. — Caramel is reading *Ultimate Spy* by H. Keith Melton.

S: Okay, so tell me a bit more about the book.

C: Sure. The content is organized around some themes like Famous Spying Operations, World War II, Cold War, Post-Cold War Spying, and Equipment and Techniques. Under that last one, there are pages on Cameras, Secret Operations, Counterintelligence, Clandestine Communications, and Weapons. Finally there is a section on How To Be a Spy.

S: Hmm, it is interesting that there is some historical context to this all. And there are lots of big words in there. Did you know what “clandestine” means for example?

C: Of course. It means secret.

S: Of course, I should have guessed that. You are a little bunny with a huge vocabulary. Anyways, what else can you tell us about the book?

C: There are 206 pages. And there are many, many, many pictures on each page.

S: That makes sense. You’d want to see these gadgets of course!

C: Yeah, I definitely liked looking at them.

S: So what was your favorite gadget?

C: Probably the match box pistol, it’s small, even a bunny spy could carry it around!

S: Wait, are you interested in becoming a spy?

C: Not really. I was teasing you. It is too dangerous. But it is neat to read about them. And you know I love my Spy School books, so this book helps me put what is going on in those books into some context.

S: Alright, so maybe this is a good place to wrap up this review. You seem to have really enjoyed this book.

C: Yes. And yes.

S: So what would you like to tell our readers as we end this post?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Ultimate Spy by H. Keith Melton and learning about cool gadgets and some history, too. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Ultimate Spy* by H. Keith Melton and learning about cool gadgets and some history, too.