I’m not sure using kids as spies is a great strategy, but since we did it, we might as well hear about it

Did you know that a 9-year-old boy once wandered into the camp of the British Army, took stock of their troop count & weapons hoard, convinced them he was just a dope who was lost & looking for a mill, all under the orders of General George Washington?  Yeah, me neither.  Enter Ariel Bradley: Spy for General Washington.

 

The book was well written, and the pictures were engaging: I think the Kindle formatting was not very accessible (it chopped up the pictures and pages some, mixed up the text here and there), and that did lead to some confusion, but I read it with my niece, and she enjoyed the story parts, and that’s obviously what’s most important.

Some of the language needed explaining – even words like bumpkin or the phrase “see what you will” are so out of practice that my niece did not understand them on her own, but this would be a great book to read in conjunction with a school unit on the Revolutionary War, where such language could be explained. The inclusion of the glossary at the end was a much welcomed addition – as was the note about the book being based on the actual life of Ariel Bradley, whom I had never heard of before.  (Also, this is just my own personal bias, but even I thought that Ariel was going to be a young girl, so that was a bit disappointing for my niece, who wished that the story was about a girl spy – we did look up some other famous lady spies, however, so all was not lost.)

Short, early reader for young middle grades with great art & a quick, intriguing story.