Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
Vicki Cobb's Blog
  • Vicki Cobb's Blog
  • About
  • Contact

What's the Enemy Up To?

7/11/2021

 
Picture
PictureSteve Strummer, Public Domain
      One of the most important contributions of author-driven nonfiction is a point of view.  Carla Killough McClafferty is noted for the interesting slants she takes in her meticulously researched books.  Her last book Buried Lives, is a sensitive discussion of the enslaved people of George Washington.  In her latest book Spies in the American Revolution for Kids she looks at history through the lens of how and why intelligence about the British was essential to the Colonial Army to win a war where they were up against one of the most formidable military powers of the 18th century.
          What are the characteristics of a good spy?  Loyalty to one's cause and people, a good memory for detail, the abilities to blend in, to lie effectively, to keep  secrets and more. Both sides had spies working all the time.  If caught, the punishment could be severe, even death.  So spies were often interesting people.  Sometimes they formed a group or "ring" so they worked together.  Sometimes they pretended to be a spy for one side but were really working for the other.  They had clever methods of imparting intelligence, long before there was any long distance, instantaneous communication. 
          Carla McClafferty explores the importance of enemy intelligence as it played out during the American Revolutionary War.  She brings history to life with tales of the brave men and women, both patriots and loyalists, who kept their eyes open about the moves of the enemy. Benedict Arnold, once a patriot, became the icon of a traitor.  I was particularly interested in his emissary, John André, who was captured in September of 1790 in my home town of Tarrytown, NY. He was carrying Benedict Arnold's surrender  of the fort at West Point, which Arnold was selling out for a fee.  There is a statue of the capture in Patriot's Park, near the Tarrytown library.  He was hanged as a spy at noon on October 2, 1790. 
           McClafferty's lively take on the intelligence behind the Revolution is a unique and engaging vantage point for some of the key turning points of the war with lots of openings for questions and conversation.  There's nothing like a good story to get kids involved.  



​


Comments are closed.

     Vicki Cobb

    *Award-winning author of more than 90 nonfiction books for children, mostly in science.
    *Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
    *Founder/President of iNK Think Tank, Inc.
    *Passionate advocate for the joy of learning for every child and teacher.


    Disclaimer: All opinions, typos, and grammatical errors are my own,  especially small word omissions which I often don't notice in my fervor.  

    RSS Feed

    ​​​​Archives

    March 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018

    ​Categories

    All
    Abuse
    Achievement Gap
    Adkins Jan
    Albee Sarah
    Anti Bullying
    Anti-bullying
    Art
    Author Driven Nonfiction
    Author-driven Nonfiction
    Authors On Call
    Biology
    Birds
    Black History
    BLC2018
    Book Review
    Child Abuse
    Children As Political Pawns
    Children's Nonfiction
    Citizenship
    Civics
    Civil Rights
    Class ACTS
    Climate Change
    Clinton Chelsea
    Collard III Sneed B.
    Common Core State Standards
    Conversation
    Coronavirus
    Costaldo Nancy F.
    Covid-19
    Critical Thinking
    Data-driven
    Definition
    Democracy
    Dewey John
    Dogs
    Dunphy Madeleine
    Ecology
    Education
    Educational Standards
    Electron Microscope
    Empowerment For Children
    Endangered Species
    Excellence
    Extinction
    Fact-checking
    Fleming Candace
    "flow"
    Galileo
    Girls' Education
    Global Warming
    Greenberg Jan
    Grit
    Gun Violence
    History
    History Of "school Reform"
    Home Libraries
    Hurricanes
    INK Database
    INK Database Of Books
    Insects
    Interactive Video Conferencing
    Isaac Sally
    Jeopardy Winner
    Learning
    Lesser Carolyn
    Leveled Reading
    Levinson Cynthia
    Lexiles
    Listening
    Literacy
    Literature
    Liu Eric
    March For Our Lives
    McClafferty Carla
    Mentor Texts
    Montgomery Heather L.
    Montgomery Sy
    Motivated Reasoning
    Motivation
    Munro Roxie
    Nathan Amy
    Nonfiction
    Nonfiction Minute
    Nonprofit And Education
    Opening Schools
    Patent Dorothy Hinshaw
    Pedagogy
    Picture Books
    Podcasts
    Primary Source
    Pringle Laurence
    Pundits Of The Pandemic
    Rap Music
    Reading
    Rules
    Rusch Elizabeth
    School Choice
    SchoolTube
    School Visits
    Science Experiments You Can Eat
    Science Teaching
    Semple Heidi E.Y.
    Social Skills
    Socrates
    Speaking
    Spring Fling
    Standardized Testing
    STEM
    Studies On Education
    Swanson Jennifer
    Teaching
    Technology And Children
    Thomas Peggy
    Trump
    Truth
    Voting
    Warren Andrea
    Washington George
    Weatherford Carole Boston
    Webinars
    Work With Us
    World War II
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Links

The Nonfiction Minute
​

​iNK Think Tank website

​Vicki Cobb's Kids' Fun Page

We Dare You Videos


Company

iNK Think Tank, Inc. is a nonprofit with the mission of using nonfiction children's literature in classrooms

Contact

vicki@inkthinktank.org
​

© 2019


© COPYRIGHT 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.