Also Times Editor’s Choice!

“This book could almost make its point on the powerful illustrations alone, but Brown’s precise language secures the historical details in an unforgettable way.”

Kirkus:
The book’s trajectory is clearly laid out: A simple map traces an almost-300-mile path through the wilderness from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to Boston. The first line draws readers firmly into the past—“It was the winter of 1775”—and defines the problem: British soldiers occupy Boston, and the Americans have no way to dislodge them. Despite the seeming impossibility of transporting heavy cannons over snowy roads, across icy lakes and through forbidding forests, young Henry Knox, a bookseller and militia member, volunteered to get the job done. As he has in other informational picture books, Brown uses a variety of page layouts, including some sequential panels, to convey the action. Cool blues and icy whites evoke the wintry landscape; figures and faces are loosely drawn but ably express emotion and determination. Likewise, the brief text employs lyrical language to both get the basic facts across and communicate the feelings and experiences of Henry and his band of hardy helpers. Children intrigued by Brown’s succinct summary will want to follow up with Anita Silvey’s Henry Knox: Bookseller, Solider, Patriot, illustrated by Wendell Minor (2010).

Publishers Weekly:
This recounting of a dramatic wartime episode revisits the era Brown spotlighted in Let It Begin Here! In the winter of 1775, the British army occupied Boston while George Washington and his troops were relegated to the surrounding hills; the general “ached for cannons. With them, he could rain cannonballs on the British soldiers’ heads and drive them from Boston.” An unlikely hero emerges: Henry Knox, a bookseller who travels 300 miles to Fort Ticonderoga to acquire 59 cannons (Knox was also the subject of Anita Silvey and Wendell Minor’s 2010 picture book Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot). Incorporating several quotations from Knox himself, Brown’s immediate account explains how Knox and his stalwart volunteers overcome hurdles on lake and land—including retrieving cannons that crash through the ice—to deliver the artillery to Boston. There, the cannons send 9,000 British soldiers fleeing, leaving behind (in an ironic twist) 250 of their own cannons. Rendered in pale browns and blues, Brown’s art has a gestural quality, emphasizing atmosphere and action over detail and succinctly sketching the proceedings in a way that echoes the fluid text. Ages 5–9. (Jan.)