Sleds on Boston Common: A Story from the American Revolution
By: Louise Borden
In the beginning of the book, Henry Price is almost nine years old. It is month of December in the year 1774. Henry tells us all about his fathers shop and what we can buy there. Henry then tells us about what has been going in Boston over the last six months. The King of England, King George the III, closed the Boston Harbor to all but British ships on June 1, 1774. He then gives us some information on the new Royal Governor, General Thomas Gage. At one point over those six months, British occupancy of Boston grew to where there was one soldier for every five Bostonians. On Henry’s birthday, there was a lot of snow, and his father had made him a sled as his birthday present! On his lunch break from school, he and his siblings decided to go sledding on the best hill in the Boston Commons. When they got there, they remembered what their father had told them about being a good patriot. He remembered that when around the British troops listen with your eyes and your ears because everybody can help the sons of liberty in some way. So while trying to find the best spot to sled, they took inventory of whatever they saw. This included food, gun powder, officers, new sheds, tents, and horses. When they find their hill, they realize that the British soldiers have taken over it by camping at the bottom. Henry spots General Gage Thomas and gets up the courage to ask him to move the soldiers so they can sled ride. Amazingly, the general listens! The kids are able to sled all winter long without any interference from the soldiers. Henry then tells us that the War for Independence begins in the spring of 1775. The book ends with Henry standing at the harbor with his brothers and his sister watching the General Thomas Gage’s boat sail back to England.
This book talks about so much more than sled riding in the Boston Commons. It has a lot of historical facts too. It tells us about the King of England at the time of the Revolutionary War, the Royal Governor that he appointed, and all about life in Boston in the months before the War began. This book would be a great book to use as a reading book and a history book. It combines History and a good story. The thing that I liked the most was the author included a lot of truths. Some historical fiction books are just that: fiction with a little bit of history. This was History with a little bit of fiction.
