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Reviewed by: Lisa Rice, Middle School Librarian Title: The British Are Coming, Young Reader's Edition Author: Rick Atkinson, with Kate Walters
Publisher: Godwin Books: Henry Holt & Company
Year: 2022 Good for Grades: 5-9 Genre/Type of Book: narrative nonfiction, historical/war/military books, American Revolution
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: None Recommended for a school library: No Reason(s) for choosing the book: I love nonfiction and love reading about historical events. The cover drew me in, and it looked like it was going to be an action-packed book, and being about the American Revolution, how could it not be? It is also adapted from the New York Times-Bestselling book The British Are Coming. The author, Rick Atkinson, is a Pulitzer Prize Winner. How could this possibly be a bad choice? It was.
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
I can't resist this "ode penned to Washington, in his honor" from p.168: "Washington, though least expected near, /Opened fire upon the Hessians' rear." My middle schoolers would appreciate this ode to Washington!
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Review:
This book was not all it was cracked up to be. Maybe I should have read the original version, and not the Young Readers version, but I did not enjoy most of this book. I found myself skimming through some parts. Even though this is one of the shorter books I have read recently at 210 pages, it felt like the longest! In many parts, it read like a textbook. There were some interesting parts but not enough to recommend this book as a purchase for libraries. I liked the cover of the book and I think it will appeal to mostly my middle school boys, but I am not sure they will sit down and read it cover to cover.
The book is set up nicely, with some parts at the beginning that seemingly will help students navigate the complexities of the war, things like a map legend (but the woods, marsh, mudflat, beach, and terrain are all almost the exact same shade of gray so not sure how anyone is figuring out the difference), a table of contents, a partial timeline of the American Revolution, key players, and an author's note. In the back there is an epilogue, some special sections about the American and British troops, the Declaration of Independence, a glossary of 18th century military terms (will middle schoolers turn to the back of the book to learn the meaning of a new word?), glossary sources, source notes, a website you can visit to "make the American Revolution come to life," places to visit (only four), and an index. The additional resources were not presented in a way that compelled me to use them or visit the additional websites so I am not sure my middle schoolers would be either. If anything, this book would be good for teaching the parts of a nonfiction book as there are so many additional parts!
Throughout the book there are maps and pictures of generals, scenes and artifacts from that time period. None of them are in color. I think color is important in middle school nonfiction books. The maps are sometimes confusing and hard to understand. Sometimes I wasn't sure what the purpose of a map was, and sometimes I couldn't read the writing on the map, like the map showing the attack during the Battle of Bunker Hill. I don't see my middle schoolers trying to figure it out. Each chapter focuses on a different location as the war progresses. Key battles are highlighted as well as key historical figures. Because the book is so condensed, it is hard to get to know the key historical figures or why they make the decisions they do, and it gives the feel of reading from a textbook.
There were interesting parts of the book. I thought it was interesting to read about both viewpoints on the Boston Tea Party. A British naval officer stated that "the devil is in these people!" It was interesting to learn about the war preparations. I felt like I had taken part in Dawes' and Revere's nighttime ride. I didn't realize that not many people knew what George Washington looked like, not even his own soldiers, and imaginary portraits of him were printed in the newspaper. Washington often fined his soldiers- "a shilling for swearing and 2 shillings sixpence for unauthorized gunplay" (p.46).
The American Revolution is a lot of ground to cover, and it can't be an easy task, especially when you try to bring it to a middle schoolers level. I think this book needed editing by someone who gets middle schoolers, or "young readers." This book might be a decent companion book to go along with the book Loyalty by Avi, or another book about the American Revolution.
Number of party hats:
For more information about this book, see the Publisher's Website