The Hessian's Secret Diary (Mysteries in Time Series) [Library Binding]

Lisa Banim (Author), James Watling (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Mysteries in Time Series

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.

--This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5. Peggy Van Brundt, 10, lives in Brooklyn, NY, during the early days of the Revolutionary War. While visiting a favorite forest clearing, she sees a mysterious stranger and finds a notebook containing drawings of the area and strange writing. After the Battle of Brooklyn, Peggy finally returns to the clearing, locates the wounded stranger, and learns that the notebook belongs to him. She tries to help him hide from the British soldiers who are seeking deserters. Ultimately, all she is able to do is to smuggle him some food. When she visits his hiding place a second time, he is gone, just ahead of the redcoats. The characters are one-dimensional and the plot lacks any real tension. It takes Peggy very little time to learn that her stranger is a Hessian deserter and that is essentially all she does learn in the course of the story. Black-and-white sketches appear throughout. The period map reproduced on the endpapers is difficult to read. A four-page postscript includes the erroneous statement that George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read aloud at a public meeting in New York City on July 4, 1776. (The Congress was still busy debating revisions to Jefferson's draft on the fourth. Washington could not even have received word of the final acceptance of the document until the fifth). An unexceptional choice.?Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. It's 1776, and young Peggy Van Brundt chafes at her mother's warning to stay out of the woods near their Brooklyn, New York, farmhouse. She disobeys and stumbles upon a dangerous secret: a wounded Hessian is hiding there. By helping the man, Peggy jeopardizes her family's welfare, but all ends well. Fast paced and mildly suspenseful, this short chapter book offers a believable story set against a colorful historical backdrop. The full-page pencil-and-wash artwork illustrates the story effectively. The book ends with several pages of "historical postscript," making the setting more meaningful by filling in the background of time and place and allowing readers to place Peggy's adventures within a broader context. Carolyn Phelan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Library Binding: 74 pages
• Publisher: Silver Moon Pr (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881889866
• ISBN-13: 978-1881889861
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,885,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good but not Great Book, June 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hessian's Secret Diary (Mysteries in Time Series) (Library Binding)

I though that this was a good book. It was recomended for my age group but was for like 2nd graders. It was short and the words were spread out. But it did teach me some things about the American Revolution and the Hessians. It tought me some of the hardships that the poeple living during this time had.