Matt and his friends are excited about a campout for the Adventure Club they’ve founded. Even having Matt’s 7 year-old sister Katie with them doesn’t dampen their spirits. A night hike to a nearby lake ends up taking them on an Adventure bigger than they’d ever imagined. They end up in the Delaware River at the time of the American Revolution. As they try to figure out how to get home they encounter rebel soldiers, Indians, Hessians and even George Washington himself.
Some of my students had this assigned for their reading group and it seemed to go over very well as a classroom pick. After doing such intensive reading about the war however, this fell really flat for me. While it’s easily the lowest reading level (other than The Secret Soldier) it shows, with an utter lack of depth or detail. The characters had no real personalities or motivations and the war information was insubstantial. The children encounter “Indians” at one point, but the Indians have no real characteristics other than long black hair and bows and arrows. They don’t speak any English and are afraid of “white man’s magic.” One wants the buckles off Matt’s shoes. They use berries to mark their faces, which the boys excitedly describe as “war paint.” There was simply no effort on the part of the author to make these Indians specific to the New Jersey region where they purportedly lived.
In a supremely uncool moment, the boys talk about a girl who didn’t look good after getting her hair permed and said that it was “not too smart, but then she’s a girl, what do you expect?” I understand that boys talk and feel this way, but I don’t have to like it.
Good for: Time travel is a really good way to introduce readers to historical fiction. This book is very history lite. It won’t satisfy the urge to learn about the past for any serious readers, but it may lure a few readers into the genre. It’s a bit like a more grown-up Magic Tree House offering and as such many fourth grade readers will welcome a familiar format while adults will be grateful they’re trying harder books by different authors.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A boy thinks an older boy is talking about his girlfriend, but the older boy is really talking about his sister. A previous time traveler decided to stay because he thought a girl was pretty.
Profanity – “damn,” “hell,”
Death, Violence and Gore – A boy pinches his sister. People disappear in a lake. There are muskets, bayonets, hatchets, cannon, howitzers, mortars. A boy explains that they barely got out of a situation alive with the “Indians and the pox.” A mother died in childbirth. Men died on a march. A foot is puffy and slightly bluish-green from infection. Hessians will run you through with their bayonets. An older boy coughs and vomits up blood – some of it gets on the hand of the boy caring for him. A boy wets himself and finally dies in the cold snow. Indians aim a bow and arrow at a boy’s heart. A man falls on his own bayonet and bleeds to death. A grenadier seems ready to run a child through with his sword. A stick is thrown and hits a boy in the head; he then has a small gash. A child is caught in the ice. A soldier is shot, a musket ball tearing through his back.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – A soldier has “rum breath.” A boy’s father likes rum and spends too much time at taverns. Another soldier has whisky breath and is accused of celebrating.
Frightening or Intense Things – Hessians capture children. Not frightening for kids, but Matt does actually bother to think about how it would be for his parents if both their kids were missing. Adults will feel the worry over the children far more keenly.
