The Declaration, The Sword & The Spy

In The Declaration, The Sword & The Spy by Jenny L. Cote, it's March 1775, and Patrick Henry's cry of 'Liberty or Death!' has declared that war is coming. The Voice of the Revolution says that the time for pleading with King George III and Parliament is over—the colonies must prepare to fight, but they will not fight their battles alone. France must secretly enter the cause of American Independence, but it will take the best spies operating on both sides of the Atlantic to pull this off.

While the Sons of Liberty secretly plan, a spy in their midst threatens to crush the patriots before they can arm. Paul Revere's heart-pounding midnight ride soon announces that British regulars are marching from Boston to Concord, but who will fire the first shot at Lexington and launch the American Revolution? As that shot is heard around the world, France's young Marquis de Lafayette immediately commits his sword to fight for American independence, but King Louis XVI has other plans for the reluctant courtier. Patrick Henry picks up his gun but is quickly branded an outlaw by Lord Dunmore and must avoid capture on his way to the Second Continental Congress where George Washington becomes the Sword of the Revolution: Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

After the bloody Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington faces the impossible task of forming and supplying an undisciplined, rag-tag army to fight the mightiest army on earth. It will take young bookseller Henry Knox to bring him a noble train of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to drive the British from Boston. But while the cannons boom, the Voice of the Revolution is needed once more—this time for a resolution to declare independence. The Enemy seeks to crush the patriots and their commander on the field, but which will be the most dangerous—the enemy without or the enemy within? Recommended for ages 8 to 12 years.