Lynda Durrant

An interesting book based on the true story of a young boy who served as a spy for General George Washington. Although the publisher describes it as a picture book, I'd classify it as a juvenile chapter book -- most of the pages in the book have no illustrations at all on them.

The watercolor illustrations are excellent. (I almost wish it were a traditional picture book so that there would be even more illustrations.) They are a good depiction of the time period and don't feel too modern.

Kids tend to enjoy any books in which kids are spies or go on adventures, but I think they'll especially appreciate that Ariel, the main character of this book, was a real person. (Although kids today, having grown up in the era of Disney, may find it a little funny that Ariel is the name of a boy in this book.)

Note: I received a digital copy of this book through NetGalley.… (more)

I loved that this book was based on a real boy and a story that actually happened, and looked forward to reading it with my grandson. Unfortunately, the book didn't format right on my Kindle, which I've read has been a problem for others, as well. There seemed to be whole paragraphs missing, and since this was such a short book to begin with, this made it very difficult to read. I'm giving it 3 stars, though, because the parts that I was able to piece together were interesting and showed promise.

I received a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion,.… (more)