Ben's Revolution

March 20, 2017
Philbrick draws on an episode recounted in his 2013 adult work, Bunker Hill, focusing on 13-year-old Benjamin Russell during the 1775 battle. In one-to-two page chapters, interspersed with Minor’s luxuriant gouache and watercolor illustrations, Philbrick skillfully summarizes the events leading up to that encounter—including the Boston Tea Party and ensuing British occupation of Boston—and effectively contrasts printer Isaiah Thomas’s patriotic fervor with Ben’s boyish preoccupations. Ben and his schoolmates excitedly follow British soldiers to Lexington and Concord but find themselves trapped outside Boston after the British seal off access to the city. For more than two months, separated from his family, Ben delivered food for General Israel Putnam’s wing of the nascent provincial army. Philbrick recreates the tension of the hard-fought Battle of Bunker Hill, as seen through Ben’s eyes, and provides a satisfying reunion with his family. The concluding chapters of this succinct, dramatic narrative tell of Ben’s work as an apprentice to Isaiah in Worcester, where he discovered his future profession as a newspaper publisher. Ages 7–9. Author’s agent: Stuart Krichevsky, Stuart Krichevsky Literary.

Starred review from March 1, 2017
A boy experiences the Boston Tea Party, the response to the Intolerable Acts, and the battle at Breed's Hill in Charlestown.Philbrick has taken his Bunker Hill (2013), pulled from its 400 pages the pivotal moments, added a 12-year-old white boy--Benjamin Russell--as the pivot, and crafted a tale of what might have happened to him during those days of unrest in Boston from 1773 to 1775 (Russell was a real person). Philbrick explains, in plainspoken but gradually accelerating language, the tea tax, the Boston Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts, and the quartering of troops in Boston as well as the institution of a military government. Into this ferment, he introduces Benjamin Russell, where he went to school, his part-time apprenticeship at Isaiah Thomas' newspaper, sledding down Beacon Hill, and the British officer who cleaned the cinders from the snow so the boys could sled farther and farther. It is these humanizing touches that make war its own intolerable act. Readers see Benjamin, courtesy of Minor's misty gouache-and-watercolor tableaux, as he becomes stranded outside Boston Neck and becomes a clerk for the patriots. Significant characters are introduced, as is the geography of pre-landfilled Boston, to gain a good sense of why certain actions took place where they did. The final encounter at Breed's Hill demonstrates how a battle can be won by retreating. A crisp historical vignette. (maps, author's note, illustrator's note) (Historical fiction. 7-9)

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March 1, 2017

Gr 2-5-Acclaimed historian Philbrick (Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War) has penned a Revolution-era history for kids adapted from his adult title Bunker Hill. This historical narrative follows Benjamin Russell, an adolescent in Boston at the dawn of the Revolution. Readers learn about the Boston Tea Party, Isaiah Thomas's radical publications, and the eruption of armed resistance to the British. Philbrick adds nuance to the tale through, for instance, Ben's mixed sentiments about the excitement of revolution and the kindness shown to him by a local British officer. From across the harbor, Ben watches the climactic battle of Bunker Hill, where the outmatched, outnumbered Patriots hold off multiple waves of British attacks before finally withdrawing. Ben is reunited with his family after the battle, and he soon joins Isaiah Thomas as a printer's apprentice. The full-color illustrations are full of bright hues, resulting in pleasing grassy fields, morning light flashing off harbor waters, and brilliantly clad Redcoats. Minor depicts the battlefield with motion and smoky haze, yet free of carnage. A convenient map displays the Boston locales referenced. Educators should note that invented dialogue has been added by the author to move the narrative along. VERDICT A stirring account of the American Revolution, sure to resonate with elementary students.-Jeffrey Meyer, Mount Pleasant Public Library, IA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2017
Grades 2-4 Based on events in the author's adult history Bunker Hill (2013), this illustrated chapter book focuses on the true story of Benjamin Russell, a 13-year-old Bostonian boy who enjoyed helping his father's friend, the printer Isaiah Thomas. Ben was an early witness to the American Revolution, including the Boston Tea Party, and even admonished a British officer for ruining his friends' icy sledding run down Beacon Hill. Naturally, when war broke out, he and his curious friends followed General Percy's brigade across the bridge to Cambridge. They soon realized that the British had sealed off Boston, leaving them stranded and away from family. Philbrick's episodic narration and Minor's realistic, engaging paintings combine to depict Ben's experiences as a clerk for militiaman Israel Putnam and his assistance in the Battle of Bunker Hill. The book concludes with Ben's honorable discharge, his reunion with family, an apprenticeship with Isaiah Thomas, and a presentation of the Declaration of Independence. Younger advanced readers and budding history buffs will enjoy this account of Benjamin Russell's youthful exploits.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)