Joanna Hale was only twelve years old in 1776. General Washington's army had surrounded the British in Boston as close "as the shell fits around an egg" and everywhere there was talk of declaring independence. Six of the Hale boys were in the Continental Army. Joanna and the rest of the Hale women supported the cause by spinning, weaving and knitting for the soldiers.
F. N. Monjo takes the reader back to this emotionally charged time, which was so full of ideals and personal tragedies. Through Joanna's eyes we see the Hale household abustle, preparing for Captain Nathan's two-month visit home on leave. And later we experience the family's grief when the rumors of Nathan's execution as a spy by the British are confirmed. F. N. Monjo's moving story, complimented by Eros Keith's beautiful illustrations, presents a vivid portrait of Revolutionary times not soon to be forgotten.
F. N. Monjo is both an editor of children's books and the author of twenty books for young readers. His lively sense of history and his fascination with the past are apparent in all his writings. Among his latest titles are Zenas and the Shaving Mill, Letters to Horseface and The Porcelain Pagoda.
Reared in Stamford, Connecticut, F. N. Monjo is a graduate of Columbia University. The father of four children, the author lives in New York City with his wife, Louise.
Eros Keith was born in Fulton, Missouri, and was graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr. Keith is both an author and an illustrator of books for children. Among the books he has both written and illustrated are Beditas Bad Day, The Biggest Noise and Rrra-ah. Mr. Keith illustrated The Slave Dancer and The King's Falcon, both by Paula Fox, and The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton.
Eros Keith lives in New York City.
—from the dust jacket
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