In this edition of
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, the patriot cum martyr regales his captors with
the gruesome story of the Donner Party. From the beginning of their wagon train
in Illinois to meeting up with a trail master in Independence Missouri through
the barren salt flats of Utah till their ultimate perilous stop in the wilds of
California, every tragic episode is told in horrible detail. There’s murder,
death, cannibalism, betrayal, and stupidity- AND it’s all true!
The book is geared for ages 8-12 but the
subject matter may actually up the reading level to 11 and up. Once again, many
of the references in this book’s bibliography are from adult text books. What
gears this book for kids is the silly jokes and goofy nature of some of the
characters. For example, the patriarch of the Reed family is shown as a buffoon
who likes to name places after himself and sing songs of how he slew a buffalo.
The author, whose name actually is Nathan Hale, admits in the afterword to
using some poetic license to lighten the tone of this history lesson.
I love these stories-
juvenile or not. There’s looks of facts mixed in with the fictional goofiness
and the author is very careful to let readers know at books end what stuff was
real and what was fictionalized. There’s another volume due out soon- if not
already and I can’t wait for it to come out.
Once again, thank you
Orange County (NC) Public Library for carrying another great series of graphic
novels that I otherwise would’ve overlooked if you didn’t obtain them for
readers like me.
Worth Consuming.
Rating: 10 out of 10
stars.
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