Book Review: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #13 by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Bones and Berserkers by Nathan Hale 

This anthology of thirteen tales runs the gamut from strict history (like the insane butler killing everyone at Taliesin in 1914) to complete fiction (Edgar Allan Poe's Hop-Frog). The framing story with American patriot Nathan Hale, his executioner, the British officer, and the African American slave, provides comedy for what turns out to be some very grim stories. The jokes take the edge off, as does the graphic novel format. Cartoon drawings of chopped off limbs or rotting corpses are a lot less graphic than photos or realistic drawings. That said, this book is really for older kids, not the very young. There's even a joke about that, explain that if you are a second-grader reading way above your level, you probably shouldn't be reading this book. I did learn a lot about a bunch of different stories and found it interesting throughout.

Recommended, but only if you can handle it!

Book Review: NHHT: Above the Trenches by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Above the Trenches by Nathan Hale

Returning to World War I, Nathan Hale (the American Revolutionary patriot) tells the tales of the flying aces. The time was the infancy of flight (the Wright Brothers had flown at Kittyhawk little more than ten years before), so the techniques and technology were developed during the war. The story starts with American pilots joining the French Foreign Legion so they could fight. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was not interested in joining the war, so they had to go somewhere. Eventually, they convinced the French to switch them from the trenches to the newly-formed air units. Pilots' work initially was gathering intelligence or dropping hand-held bombs on the enemy. If planes shot at each other, the pilots used handguns. As the war dragged on, pilots and mechanics started mounting guns on the planes, eventually getting to front-mounted ones that would time their shots to go in between the propellers! The people and the technological developments are interesting and keep the story moving.

As in the previous World War I tale, Hale has the characters as anthropomorphic animals to keep the nationalities straight (Russians are bears, British are bulldogs, Germans are eagles, Americans are rabbits (since the Germans had eagles first), etc.). It works well and fits the comic-book style. As usual, the book ends with a bibliography and some other historic tidbits.

Recommended.

Book Review: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Cold War Correspondent by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Cold War Correspondent written and drawn by Nathan Hale

Marguerite Higgins, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, covered the outbreak of the Korean War. She was a correspondent in World War II and witnessed the liberation of some of the concentration camps. Stationed in Tokyo, she and other correspondents flew over to Seoul as the North Korean army came pouring south. Many of her personal experiences are told, e.g. dealing with supportive and unsupportive military leadership (some didn't want her anywhere near combat). The battle scenes are exciting and frequent. This book only covers the first year of the war (1950), with the South Korean and American/UN forces pushed all the way back to the southern shore of the Korean Peninsula. General Douglas MacArthur executed a bold plan to retake the capital, launching an amphibious assault at Inchon, eighteen miles west of the capital.

As with all the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales books, this is introduced with a little comedy by American patriot (and narrator of the series) Nathan Hale and his executioners. Ms. Higgins takes over narrating duty since she is a reporter and it's a natural fit for her. Her real-life account is riveting. I learned a lot about the Korean War from this book even though it only covers a third of the war. As usual, there's a bibliography and some pictures of the real Higgins. The inside cover gives a map of Korea and explains the language changes by the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism that happened in 2000, when spellings changed, e.g. Inchon to Incheon and Pusan to Busan, among others. This book is a better text than a lot of textbooks!

Highly recommended.

Book Review: One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale

 One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale

Three kids are scavenging a post-apocalyptic landscape when they find a robotic horse buried in a tunnel. The tunnel turns out to be an elevator shaft, down which they go. At the bottom they find a room full of electronics, screens, and robots. They turn on some stuff, which turns out to be a bad decision. The pipers come. The pipers are giant, odd-looking creatures who steal technology by forming bubbles around the equipment. The pipers seek out active machines and electronics. The kids flee on the horse, hoping to lose the pipers and make it back to their village. The village is a mobile town with minimal electronics. It's always on the move and always collecting choice bits of technology. The villagers are trying to save human knowledge in hopes that the apocalypse will end at some point and civilization can be restored.

The story is intriguing and a different take on the post-apocalyptic genre. Hale's art is very similar to his Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series, with minimal colors. The humor is very similar too, though this is a bit more of a serious story and is based on a story his grandfather told him.

Recommended.

Book Review: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Major Impossible by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Major Impossible by Nathan Hale

John Wesley Powell was the son of an abolitionist preacher. John grew up more interested in science than preaching. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, during which he lost his right arm. He became an explorer after the war. He went out west and in 1869 formed the Colorado River Exploring Expedition. He had ten men and four boats that went down the Colorado River through what is now known as the Grand Canyon. The river adventure is the main story; his earlier life and military service make up a secondary story. Both stories are interesting and he is a little known character from American history. As usual, Hale does a great job blending historical accuracy with some good comedy, making this yet another fun read.

Recommended.

Book Review: Apocalypse Taco by Nathan Hale

Apocalypse Taco by Nathan Hale

The local high school theater group works late into the night building the set for their production of Brigadoon. The mom in charge sends her two sons and a high school girl whose just got her driver's license to get a midnight snack for the hungry workers (they are teenagers, after all). While goofing off during the ride they lose their burger bucks and wind up buying tacos at the local Taco Bear. The drive-thru becomes a problem since it leads them into an alternate dimension where everything is gooey and tentacley. And there's no phone reception and the sky looks weird. Can our three young heroes fight their way back to reality?

The story goes through a lot of weirdness before the explanation comes, an explanation that is not entirely convincing. The horror is middle-school friendly--the ooze and goop has a comic book look and feel. The gore is so minimal it's practically non-existent. The characters are fun and easy to root for. They make it through the situation (the book is very middle-school friendly) using humor, experience, and enough wits to outwit the mindless terrors they face. It's not a great story but it is very imaginative and I enjoyed it.

Slightly recommended.

Book Review: Raid of No Return by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Raid of No Return by Nathan Hale

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, American morale was extremely low. On the other hand, Japan's morale was high, though not a high as it should have been, given that their declaration of war was supposed to happen just before the raid. Some of the Japanese military found the attack to be dishonorable without a clear declaration. The Japanese government did deliver an ultimatum, but it was late and not exactly a declaration of war. America did declare war quite quickly afterwards.

In order to shift the levels of morale, a secret bombing mission was planned. A small group of bombers would attack the Japanese homeland. The daring plan would have planes launch from aircraft carriers 500 miles from Japan. They'd do their bombing run and continue on to China since the ships planned to flee after the launch. The operation was headed by James Doolittle, a stunt flyer and test pilot who signed up when war was declared. The mission was mostly successful but the planes didn't make it to the China airbase. The raiders were scattered over the mainland, a few making it as far as Soviet territory.

The story is very exciting and became a movie in 1944, before all the airmen had even returned! This book is another in the series of Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, told by American spy Nathan Hale to his executioners before he is killed. The Revolutionary War characters provide some commentary and jokes along the way. The book is surprisingly accurate and detailed. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It's dedicated to Colonel Richard E. Cole, last survivor of the raid (he turned 103 years old in 2018).

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Laffayette! by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Laffayette! by Nathan Hale

The Marquis de Lafayette came from France to America to help the colonists break free from British control back in the late 1700s. He became a general under George Washington, participated in many battles, and helped get resources from the French government. This book describes a good chunk of the American War for Independence. Lafayette's role is told in detail with an aside on Benedict Arnold, who was also a key figure in the war and an interesting contrast to Lafayette.

The book has the standard historical accuracy with nice bits of comedy thrown in. The author still keeps the structure where American spy Nathan Hale is telling stories to both his executioner and a British officer. Those three characters provide commentary and jokes throughout Lafayette's story. The end has a bibliography and an extremely short biography of author Nathan Hale who wrote and illustrated the book.

Recommended.

Book Review: Alamo All-Stars by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Alamo All-Stars written and illustrated by Nathan Hale

Another volume in the Hazardous Tales series, this book describes Texas's war of independence from Mexico in the 1820s and 1830s. A good variety of battles are described but the lion's share of the book is devoted to the siege of the Alamo. Jim Bowie (that knife is named after him for reasons explain in the book), Davy Crockett, Stephen Austin, and Sam Houston are the stars. Readers get a good idea of their characters as well as the details of the war for Texas Independence. As usual, a nice bibliography and a list of any historical inaccuracies are given at the end of the book. Humor pervades the whole book and makes it a fun introduction to an interesting bit of history.

Highly recommended!

Book Review: The Underground Abductor by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: The Underground Abductor by Nathan Hale

In this volume, the British officer supervising Nathan Hale's execution demands a story where America doesn't look so good. Hale tells a tale from the days of slavery, specifically about Harriet Tubman. She was one of the most successful abductors on the Underground Railroad, a system that smuggled slaves out of southern states before the American Civil War (and a bit during the war). The slaves went as far as Canada to ensure their freedom.

This story starts with her as a child. She was born Araminta Ross and her whole family was owned by Edward Brodess, a land owner on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She had many varied tasks as a child, none of which she was very good at. Her owners were hard on her, even causing a head injury that seems to have caused narcolepsy, the condition where people unexpectedly and suddenly fall asleep. During this unnatural sleep, she had strange visions of the future, including nearby dangers. This ability comes in very handy (sort of--she does fall asleep at unexpected moments) in her life. Later she married the free black man John Tubman.

She fled to Philadelphia when her family was starting to be "sold South," i.e. her siblings sold to plantation owners who lived further south where conditions were much worse. After establishing herself as a free women, she changed her name to Harriet. She then began working to get the rest of her family out of Maryland. She also led anyone else willing to escape from slavery. When the war broke out, she worked as a spy for the Union and freed about 800 slaves in a daring raid on the Combahee River in South Carolina. She went on to a "happily ever after" life of retirement with her family in New York.

The book chronicles her exploits in an exciting and engaging manner. There aren't as many jokes as in other Hazardous Tales books but it still has a light enough touch that things are never too grim to put off readers. The Underground Abductor is another great book in the series.

Book Review: Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood by Nathan Hale

Here's another round of joke-filled, mostly accurate history by Nathan Hale, present day writer and illustrator. He has Nathan Hale, 18th century American spy, tell the history of World War I to his hangman and the British officer presiding at his execution (there's a whole back story where Hale falls into a history book and comes out with knowledge of future events, just the sort of plot contrivance you need to have an American War for Independence patriot narrate historical events after his death). The officer wants the whole war described, a tall order for World War I; the hangman wants cute animals and jokes, a tricky problem with the grimness of World War I (see the title of the book). Hale's tale starts with the political landscape of Europe in the 1910s and the small circumstances that blew out of proportion, starting off World War I. To satisfy the hangman, Hale depicts each nationality as an animal, often a national symbol (like the Russians are bears and the Germans are eagles). This system works surprisingly well for keeping track of who is which nationality and for making jokes about nations (since Belgium is represented by lions, the British have to be bulldogs. What's worse, since Germans are eagles, Americans are depicted as bunnies!). The story concentrates mostly on the ground action on the western front, but the air war and the Russian and Ottoman fronts are referenced when significant events happened there.

Even though the book covers four or five years of history and many different battles all over Europe, even without a central character to follow through the conflict, the history of the war is still engaging while depressing. The use of trenches, gas attacks, and frontal assaults that were tantamount to suicide raids are depicted but not in such detail as to make the book kid-unfriendly. The overall humorous tone of the book (which is never in bad taste) takes the edge off as well.

This book is a great introduction to World War I for kids and a nice review for adults.

Book Review: Big Bad Ironclad! by Nathan Hale

Big Bad Ironclad! written and drawn by Nathan Hale

American patriot and colonial spy Nathan Hale continues regaling his executioners with tales from future history (because he got sucked into a book or something in the first volume--just go with it). Here he gives the story of the first armored naval vessels in the 1860s. The two most famous ones (because they were the first ones) are the Monitor and the Merrimack (renamed the Virginia), built by the United States and the Confederacy respectively. He describes not only their battles and ultimate fates, but also the long and challenging process of first convincing the respective governments to invest in armored sea vessels and then building those boats. The story is exciting and also has plenty of appropriate jokes sprinkled throughout.

Also sprinkled throughout is the story of Will Cushing, a man dismissed from the Naval Academy for playing pranks. When the American Civil War started, the Navy was desperate enough for officers that they took him back. He soon became a colorful, creative, and cunning naval officer. He had a distinguished career with many daring raids and attacks both at sea and on land, earning him the nickname "Lincoln's Commando." He was an inspiration for the Navy Seals.

As with other volumes in the series, the back includes a section describing the bits that aren't historically accurate (surprisingly few) and a bibliography so readers can learn more about the people and the ironclads.

Highly recommended!

Book Review: Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale

Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale

Donner Dinner Party is another one of Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, the series of graphic novels about American history's most dangerous and arduous moments. This volume is about a wagon train traveling to California in 1846. The group is the infamous Donner Party, who take an ill-advised short cut through modern-day Utah and wind up trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountain range for the winter. The group sets up camp in hopes of rescue but slowly die off. In desperation, the survivors begin eating the dead. While none of the cannibalism is shown in the book, it doesn't gloss over the fact either. At one point, the narrator character (American spy Nathan Hale) tells the reader to jump ahead a few pages to skip the worst of what happens. I didn't skip ahead. The tale is very harrowing and exciting, with plenty of tasteful jokes thrown in to lighten the grim mood of the story.

This book is well-researched (it includes a bibliography and a list of the minor changes and inventions for comic effect). The black and white drawings with green tinting helps lessen the horror of the occasionally bloody scenes. Highly recommended for young and old if you are interested in this historical event and don't know much about it!

Book Review: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale

Most every American can recognize the line "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country" as the final words of Nathan Hale, an American spy hung in 1776 during the American War of Independence. Any other details about his life are vague at best. This small book (written by another Nathan Hale who was born in 1976) fills in a lot of the details, especially his service during the war, in a way that's entertaining and engaging for children and adults alike. The book is a graphic novel and Hale (the 1776 one) tells his story to his hangman and a British officer who are curious about his previous life. This set up nicely enables both an American and a British commentary on events (if only television news shows were so balanced!), along with mostly jokes from the hangman. The last ten pages are a mini-comic about Crispus Attucks, an African-American who was one of the five who died during the Boston Massacre. Attucks shows up at the gallows where Hale and the two Brits discuss his life and the events in Boston prior to his death and the fallout after his demise. The best thing about the book is that it is thoroughly researched and has a section detailing the parts where artistic license was taken (or not taken, as the case may be).

Highly recommended for young and old! I will definitely read more in this series.

Sample text--the coolest bibliography ever!

Click to enlarge (and sorry about the scan flare on the right!)