The Secret Mission of William Tuck

Gr 5–7—In 1781, 12-year-old William Tuck, son of a modest Virginia farmer, sees his older brother executed by a British firing squad. Rage and grief propel him to run away to join the militia as a drummer. Accompanied by Rebecca, the resourceful daughter of a captured patriot, he encounters notable figures from the Revolutionary period, including James Armistead and Peter Francisco. Together they smuggle a secret message to Gen. George Washington in Dobbs Ferry, thus securing victory at the Battle of Yorktown. A series of risky encounters gives them a crash course in spy rings and cryptography, and Rebecca's need to go undercover as a boy highlights gender roles of the time. The action is unrelenting, if sometimes repetitive, and the fast pace combined with nonstop violence and unflinching descriptions of unsavory aspects of 18th-century medicine and combat will engage readers who may not normally choose historical fiction. Instructive end notes provide an extension to the novel. Unfortunately, character development is limited, and some topics cry out for more nuance. For example, an encounter with the Seneca reveals that the protagonists view the Native Americans as "dangerous savages." Though the white protagonists' opinion is historically authentic, Pierpoint misses the opportunity to provide broader context for why some of the Seneca would side with the loyalists, and readers are left unaware of Washington's horrific reprisals. Similarly, the irony of repeated calls for freedom by slave-owning patriots is barely explored.