Nathan Hales Hazardous Tales is unlike any book series that middle school readers and up will encounter. They’re non-fiction, but have a healthy dose of (most likely…) fictional dialogue between the real-life people that the books are about. The stories are shepherded by Nathan Hale, the narrator who looks like Dom Deluise dressed up as a member of The Three Musketeers provides many of comedic angles for the books. Let’s go back to the original point, they’re non-fiction. They’re also fun to read and middle school kids who like comic books, graphic novels or if they like to read, laugh or learn will love Nathan Hales, Hazardous Tale: Lafayette!
Granted, the list of readers that will enjoy this series, and Lafayette! is long and that’s one of the amazing characteristics about these books. Lafayette! is a funny, historical graphic novel that taught me lots about a figure from the Revolutionary War. There’s a Lafayette Street in your city probably. There’s a court of park in New Orleans named Lafayette also, but I never knew anything about the person behind the name.
In short, I learned that Lafayette was a well meaning Frenchman who was brought up in a noble family. His father was killed when he was a young child and he spent much of his developmental years looking for a way to be a hero. The Revolutionary War that was soon to be happening in the British colony across the Atlantic Ocean might be just the opportunity for Lafayette to prove his mettle. The fact that he was rich beyond anyone’s scale of wealth would also be an asset to some cash strapped Revolutionaries who were fighting the British.
Some of the characters in Lafayette will be familiar to history buffs. I recognized many of the names, but had forgotten the specifics. Those middle school readers who are just learning about the Revolutionary War will relish the fun details and side stories that this book provides about this key period of time.
The book is all about Lafayette, but it also touches on the people of that time who he brushed shoulders with. There’s a brief interjection with Benedict Arnold, the Beast of Gevaudan, as well as, many funny side stories about the people that were in charge of the colony then.
Parents: that’s the interesting thing about this book. It is a graphic novel. However, this is educational too, so let the kids read it.
Kids: that’s the interesting thing about this book. It is a book. However, it’s a fun book, with numerous moments where you’ll LOL, dog-ear pages to re-read and have fun engaging with. This is a book that you’ll learn from and have fun doing it.
As an educational tool it’s fabulous because it’s so detailed that readers are unable to simply look at the illustrations to see what’s happening. Lafayette! has to be read to actually know what’s happening in the book. If your child likes ‘reading’ graphic novels, but mainly uses it to look at the pictures and infer what’s happening these books from Nathan Hale are just the antidote for that. These are fun books that they’ll want to read and you’ll encourage them to do so also.
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