Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood

World War I can be a complicated topic to cover with students. More than one teacher has been told the war made no sense. Just why did these people end up going to war? Finding resources that don't lie about the horror of the war, but are still age appropriate regarding the subject matter can be challenging. It can be hard to find a balance.

Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales 4): A World War I Tale uses a graphic novel format to tackle the subject.

For those not familiar with the Nathan Hale format reading the first book Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spyis not a bad idea. It explains how and why Nathan Hale, the Executioner, and the British soldier appear at different historical sites. There is a brief introduction at the beginning of this book, but while I don't believe you need to read all the books in order, reading the first one prior to any of the others is not a bad choice.

The author chooses an interesting approach to explaining the participants in the war. At the behest of the Executioner, each country participating in the story is assigned an animal to represent that country throughout the graphic novel. I'm not generally a reader of graphic novels. That doesn't mean I don't see the value in them, but they just aren't generally a style I enjoy. When the author first introduced the idea of each country being represented by an animal I was concerned it was going to be rather silly and distracting. This however, demonstrated my lack of knowledge of graphic fiction. As the story continued I realized unlike the previous novel which had colonial soldiers and Red Coats which could easily be distinguished in graphic pictures, using animals in a situation where many of the uniforms would be hard to distinguish from each other in graphic format made sense. As the story continued I found myself relying on the animals to help me remember which countries were represented in the story. While I began not liking the idea, I found very quickly that it was quite useful.

I was impressed with the explanation for the reasons for the war. For the length and format of the book it didn't stick to the general explanations one often sees in children's history of this period. The discussions of the negotiations for peace while done in an amusing included information often left out of other children's books.

The book moves on to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and provides a fairly accurate description. Two things stood out for me about the writing regarding the beginning of the war. The first was how the author took time to describe the beginning of the war without diving into trench warfare right off the bat. The author explains how and why the war evolved into trench war, but spends a significant amount of time describing the war before the advent of trenches. The second area was the role of Belgium. Belgium wanted badly to remain neutral and this book focuses on why Belgium was not going to be able to continue this course and what there role was as a result of their geography.

The book moves on to the challenges of trench warfare, the massive casualties, the use of gas, and the overall path of the war. Due to the length of the book it lightly addresses the exit of the Russians from the war due to the Russian Revolution and the entry of the United States into the War. At one point the author even has the narrator explain which topics they didn't get to due to time constraints in story telling. I liked the honesty of this. It tells the reader there is more to discover.

I continue to be impressed with this history series. It is a great way for students to explore history while enjoying a graphic novel format.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spyis the first book in the graphic history series. I came across this series when it was requested as a birthday gift. While purchasing the books I found myself interested in reviewing them and checked the first out from our local library to see if it was as interesting as I'd been told. I am open to pursuing a wide variety of materials that engage children in learning as long as the material is accurate and relevant. Graphic novels do provide engagement, the key is making sure they are providing relevant and accurate information to move them beyond entertainment into actual valuable educational tools. I think this book achieves that goal.

The story begins at the hanging of the namesake of the series, Nathan Hale. In a reference to Scheherazade of the Arabian Nights, Nathan Hale is able to put off his hanging as long as he entertains his hangman with the story of the American Revolution. The story begins at the site of the hanging with a British soldier marching Hale to the hanging site. The soldier has forgotten his orders to hang Hale, so he is forced to leave Hale with the hangman while he returns to get the orders that make the execution official. The hangman proceeds to ask Hale about his final words, attempting to inject some humor to the situation. A disturbance occurs finding Hale getting eaten by an American history book, filling him with the knowledge of not only what has happened, but will happen in history.

When the soldier returns he and Hale debate and argue about the events that have occurred leading up to Hale's hanging. The executioner acts the part of the audience asking questions for clarification and understanding. He also continues the part of jester, making jokes at times.

I found the book flowed well and gave an overall interesting account of the American Revolution with a fantasy spin. What intrigued me is that while it covered all the main events it focused less on events more heavily covered in traditional books about the Revolution and put more emphasis on events that tend to get less coverage, including the people of the period. For instance, I've always found Henry Knox to be an amazing Revolutionary figure. What he accomplished moving the canons from Fort Ticonderoga was an amazing feat for someone who had no previous military or transport experience. He was primarily self taught from what he read. The graphic version of Knox is quite entertaining, but it also provides the historical importance of why what he did mattered.


The book also describes the military tactics behind the Battle of Bunker Hill without it being dry and dull. While the argument between Hale and the British officer is funny, it also does provide some insight into how the British and the Colonial troops did see the battles differently. The British won the Battle. but their losses were significant. The Colonials were able to escape to fight another day with significantly fewer losses. This is all explained in graphic format in a way kids can read, process, and understand. It is accurate without being dry.

Another area of the war I've not often found well covered is the war in New York. This book does a remarkable job describing what choices were made on both sides, the battles, and the outcomes.

Then of course we come back around to the story of how Nathan Hale took up spying, got caught, and was sentenced to hang. For those of you concerned he doesn't hang in the book, he's put off his hanging by promising more stories.

The book is a graphic novel and it does have fun with characters to provide humor and engagement with the story. Henry Knox is very entertaining in this story, I sincerely doubt he was that entertaining in life. However, it is a way to engage readers to want to know more about the events, people, and outcomes mentioned in the story. It would be addition to any unit on the American Revolution or a fun read for kids who like historical fantasy in a graphic novel format.