Daughter of Liberty (Hyperion Chapters) [Paperback]

Robert Quackenbush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1900 | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Hyperion Chapters

A chance encounter with General George Washington in upstate New York during the Revolutionary War leads a young woman to volunteer for a dangerous mission involving the retrieval of valuable papers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (January 1, 1900)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786812869
• ISBN-13: 978-0786812868
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,835,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author/Artist/Educator Robert Quackenbush has written and illustrated over 200 books for young readers including his popular Miss Mallard Mysteries, which have been made into animated films for children's worldwide television programming by Cinar (now Cookie Jar Entertainment) that are showing in 70 countries. His books have won many awards and citations including an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, a Gradiva Award, and a gold medal from the Holland Society of New York for distinction in art and literature by a member of the society. He is a frequent visiting author at schools and libraries giving programs to instill children with a love of books and reading. These tours have taken him across the US, including Alaska, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. His art is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Department of Interior, the U.S. Air Force Museum, and Norton Simon Museum. For further information, visit his Web site www.rquackenbush.com, which also gives his Facebook and Blog addresses.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True story of woman's heroism in the American Revolution., March 3, 1999

By 

Robert Quackenbush, [e-mail] (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daughter of Liberty (Hyperion Chapters) (Hardcover)

I am the author of this book and here are my comments: Daughter of Liberty portrays an incident in the life of my great, great, great, great Aunt Wyntje (Wyn) Quackenbosch (Quackenbush) Mabie who served as a messenger for General Washington during the Revolutionary War. In November 1776 she rode from her farm in Tappan, New York to Fort Lee, New Jersey, and rowed across the Hudson River by rowboat to retrieve papers from Washington's former headquarters at the Roger Morris House, now called the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Then she rowed back across the Hudson River and delivered the papers to Washington at his new headquarters in Hackensack, New Jersey. The papers contained names of suppliers and volunteer troop replacements so that Washington could quickly restore his shattered defenses. His Army had been reduced to 6,000 troops in just a few short months after the British invasion of New York city in August 1776. The papers were an aid to his first major victory at Trenton on December 26, 1776. I took certain liberties to write Wyn Mabie's story so that young readers could comprehend the complex events of the times. This included the addition of Jan and Janneke, ten-year-old twin cousins of Wyn's husband, Abraham, who were being cared for by Wyn and her Aunt Susanna. The twins actually represented Wyn's and Abraham's own children, a boy Abraham, age two months, and a girl Elizabeth, age 2, who would be too young at the time to talk about their feelings when Wyn undertook her mission. This type of writing - fact meeting fiction - is a process of harvesting things one accidentally knows and merging them with facts. Often it means bending the facts in order to arrive at the truth. For me, writing Wyn Mabie's story meant verifying through research a story that had been passed down in my family since the Revolutionary War. Then I linked the details of her mission with precise events and the time they occurred. This research took nearly twenty years to complete before I wrote and illustrated the finished book, which took one year. My purpose for creating Daughter of Liberty was to confirm a life that had become a legend, by restoring Wyn Mabie and her heroism to the book of life. For this reason I begin her story with this 184l quotation by Ralph Waldo Emerson: There is probably no history, only biography.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful story! Ordinary people as a part of history., March 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Daughter of Liberty (Hyperion Chapters) (Hardcover)

This book brings history so close to home. It really tells us that ordinary people play an important part in the making of headlines. It is a beautiful and exciting tale, yet utterly simple.

The illustrations are remarkable. In this age of up-front color their textures, shades of grey, and perspectives are refreshing. Appropriate also to the period portrayed.

A definite must for all young people. With real possibilities as well, because of its high interest level, for teaching English as a Second Language to older students.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The story of a womans determination to save her country, March 7, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Daughter of Liberty (Hyperion Chapters) (Paperback)

I had read the book "Daughter of Liberty" this book was a harrowing story of a young woman risking her life to get some papers for George Washington. In the story the setting is in New Jersey were a war against the British is on its way. A young woman named Wyn Mabie is married to her husband who has been stationed in Stoney Point with his uncle. The British were having planned to start moving their battle to New Jersey were the British were watching over George Washington's headquarters were he has left the plans for the war on a packet of papers. Till he meets Wyn there is no way to retrieve these papers.

Then he had run into the young woman who invited him to her home to talk about the discussion on her leaving her home behind to help save her country, to retrieve theses papers was a risk to her life. She was told to go to the general's headquarters in New York. Wyn Mabie is a woman who decides on doing something and will stick to it; she has stuck to retrieving those papers and risking her life to save the country she loves. The reason I recommend this book is because it tells of a journey that no one today would want to do in the war. It tells of a woman who is so determined to get what will help save her country with no worries of being captured or killed. So I recommend this book.