Redcoats and Petticoats
Illustrated by Ronald Himler
Holiday House
Ages 6 and up

A Junior Library Guild selection
Featured by Scholastic Book Clubs
Featured by the New York Times, Long Island section
Adapted for film and stage

“Gr. 3-5. First British soldiers arrested her father as a traitor, then the Redcoats took over the house. Soon after, 13-year-old Thomas Strong recalls, his mother moved the family to a small waterfront cottage and commenced such odd activities as hanging petticoats daily on the clothesline and sending Thomas rowing long distances in search of a whaleboat. So it was, unbeknownst to him, that young Thomas Strong participated in a spy ring during the Revolutionary War. Nancy Strong’s petticoats were a vital link in a spy chain that conveyed secret messages to General George Washington in Connecticut. Through Thomas’ first-person account, readers sense the humiliation suffered and the danger survived by the youth. Himler’s dramatic watercolors will engage readers, drawing them further into the story’s intrigue. Historical notes on the Strong family and its role in the Revolution, together with maps of the Long Island sites of action, complete this alluring glimpse at a fascinating episode in America’s past.”—Ellen Mandel, Booklist.