Tag: nonfiction

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!

Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about Raid of No Return by Nathan Hale, published first in 2017. This is the seventh book in Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series.

For Caramel’s reviews of the six earlier books, please check out: One Dead Spy, Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, The Underground Abductor, Big Bad Ironclad, Donner Dinner Party, and Alamo All-Stars.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you are back this week with a new Nathan Hale book!

Caramel: Yep! This one is a WW2 one.

S: It is about the second world war, you mean?

C: Yep, it is about the U.S. bombing campaign on Tokyo, which is apparently called the Doolittle Raid today. It starts with a summary of how the second world war began and then the Pearl Harbor attack. 

S: That is interesting. Most of the earlier books in the series were about earlier parts of American history. So this is getting a bit closer to today. 

C: Sprinkles, it is not that close! The Pearl Harbor attack was in 1941. That is still the last century. 

S: You are right of course. It is also the last millennium!

C: Yeah, see, I was right! It is still quite ancient history, especially for a little bunny like me. 

S: True, for older bunnies like me who were born in the last century, maybe it feels closer. Anyways, so the book is about the battle in the Pacific Ocean then. 

C: It is even more specific than that. There is a little bit about how people viewed the Pearl Harbor attack, from both sides (American and Japanese), and then the rest of the book, we focus on the experiences of the pilots who flew the U.S. bombers over Tokyo. 

S: I see. I had of course heard about the Pearl Harbor event, but I had not read about this retaliation. From the Wikipedia article it looks like this was a very outrageous plan, not terribly likely to succeed–

C: Yes, but it somehow worked. They did manage to bomb some important military targets, I think. 

S: And the war escalated from then on of course. 

C: Yes.

S: Okay, so I am guessing that you were excited to read this book. It has been a few months since you last read a new Nathan Hale book. 

C: Yeah! And this one came in a box of three, like the other books I read from this series, and I loved all three!

S: Hmm, maybe you will review the others in the coming weeks. 

C: Maybe. If I do that, can we get the next three books? These were really good!

S: Sounds like a good deal to me. 

C: Okay, good. I know what I will be reviewing next week then!

S: Alright. Let us get back to this week though. So this is the seventh book in the series. Does the same framing story continue? I mean, the other books are all narrated by Nathan Hale, that famous spy who is about to get hanged. Is this one continuing the same thing?

C: Yeah, it is. 

S: I am a bit curious about how they will finish the series. I mean Hale did get hanged in the end. But maybe since this is for young bunnies, and there are so many other interesting historical tales to tell, maybe we will not ever get to those bits. 

C: Yeah, I hope that it never ends.

S: I know you love graphic novels and you love history and you love facts. This is just the right book series for you!

C: Yep, it is.

S: So then is it fair to say that you would recommend it to other young bunnies?

C: Yes! Any bunny who loves books or history or graphic novels would like these too! And you know, they don’t have to read them in order, so they can just jump right into any of them after the first one.

S: Great! Maybe this is a good place to wrap up this review. What do you think?

C: Sure. Then I can go back to reading and rereading the next book!

S: Sounds good to me. What do you want to tell our readers then?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!