Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: The Story of a Heroic Revolutionary War Spy

Amazon Customer: It was so good and very educational and fun I loved it! I even learned a lot from it . You are going to love it!

United States on Nov 27, 2023

TTT: My students love these books and so do I! I highly recommend for the graphic novel readers and anyone that loves history!

United States on Aug 01, 2023

Andrea Costantini: Per me che sono un appassionato di Storia è stato molto avvincente leggere questa graphic novel. Disegni fantastici per grandi e piccoli.

Italy on Jun 15, 2016

rlb: My son loves these books. Fun, easy reads that teach history

Canada on Jun 05, 2016

Quinn Rollins: I’ve been a fan of Nathan Hale’s for a while. Nathan Hale the author and illustrator, not the patriot, although you could be pardoned the confusion. I loved his illustrations for the graphic novels "Rapunzel’s Revenge" and "Calamity Jack," and his picture book "Yellowbelly and Plum" was one of my sons’ favorites. Hale’s current series has moved him to the top of my list.

In 2012 Nathan Hale and Amulet Books started a series of graphic novels based on American History, under the banner (literally) "Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales." The first book in the series is "One Dead Spy," and it and the following books are interesting, easy to follow, and downright entertaining. I’m buying every one of them.

"One Dead Spy" is about Nathan Hale (the patriot), executed in 1776, at the very beginning of the American Revolution. The 128-page hardcover comic begins with Manhattan in flames, and a whistling Hangman bringing a noose to a gallows. He shoos a bald eagle away, and prepares Nathan Hale to be hanged. They’re soon joined by a British Officer, and these three will be the narrators for the rest of the book. Given an omniscient overview of American History, Hale...

United States on Mar 02, 2015

Karen S D Robinson: I have been a fan of Nathan Hale (the spy, not the author, who I'd never heard of before) since I was a kid forty years ago. I have a rather large collection of books about him, including my prizes, an original Stuart from 1856 and a copy of Seymour's "Documentary Life". This book will go well on that shelf.

The premise of this book is a bit of magic realism: As Nathan Hale speaks his last words, a huge history book swallows him up. A few minutes later he emerges, starry eyed (but still with his hands tied behind his back), explaining that "I'm in the history book now" and that he has read the future history of America. He tells the enthralled hangman and the British soldier (who I take to be William Cunningham) the story of his life and of the beginnings of the American Revolution. When he comes to the end of his story, they want to know more, so like Scheherazade, he postpones his execution by spinning more tales, which will be a future series of graphic novels (I can't wait for the one about Benedict Arnold).

The book is very funny, with a lot of gallows humor--literally, since the frame story all takes place on the gallows. For example:

Hangman: Do you...

United States on Sep 01, 2012