George Washington's Socks

George Washington's Socks

Elvira Woodruff

Scholastic, 1991

166 pages

Grades 3-6

Historical Fiction/Fantasy

Matthew is the leader of his neighborhood Adventure Club and the gang is sleeping out in a tent at Tony's house. The problem is, Matt's younger sister, Katie is tagging along and is proving to be a pain. After Tony's parent's fall asleep the members of the club take a walk down to the lake, just as the scouts in George Washington's army did. A small rowboat on the shore beckons them all aboard and before they know it they are inside and being transported to the Delaware River with Washington and his troupes. The great general is surprised to see children in the company, yet generously lends Katie his cloak and assigns a young soldier to accompany the kids back to the safety of a near-by inn. While returning the cloak, Matthew finds himself swept up and into the ranks of the patriots, where he befriends a young soldier. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang has there own troubles as their guide falls ill and they must make there way on their own, dodging Indians and Hessians. Will the friends ever be reunited and make it back home?

Before there was Magic Tree House there was George Washington's Socks. At a slightly higher reading level, Woodruff uses a different conveyance (a boat) to transport a group of kids to the Revolutionary War. I have not read this book since it came out in my early days as a librarian and it has always proven to be an easy sell for the dreaded historical fiction assignments. A re-read thirty years later certainly shows the book's age. There is no apparent diversity within the group of boys and Indians, though treated as sympathetic characters, are still rather stereotypically portrayed. Soldiers are dying left and right, which would never happen in today's children's literature, and the language is a bit dated. That said, the adventure is great and the plot moves along quite swiftly. The kids are interested in history and read out loud historic events from a book with no technology in sight. The realities of war are demonstrated and the author shows the humanity of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. The American Revolution is grittier than idealized in history and the Adventure Club learns firsthand the suffering of those involved in securing our independence. Even though the book is a bit dated, it is still an exciting and worthwhile read and kids will learn a bit about the past as they experience their own imaginary adventures.