Two fictional young Bostonians are swept up in actual events that culminate in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Speaking in modern idiom, ragamuffin Nick and Penny, a taverner’s daughter, find themselves in the right places at the right times to pull pranks on arrogant Tories and lobsterbacks, overhear plans to march on Lexington and Concord, send a certain signal from the Old North Church’s tower and witness or participate in several pivotal clashes. They also meet an array of Patriots, from Paul Revere and Dr. Joseph Warren to George Washington—all portrayed as ruggedly heroic figures in Mack’s finely inked and colored sequential pictures—who state the case for independence in oracular snippets. Nick and Penny are too much like modern younger teens in costume to let an authentic sense of period develop, but the quickly paced plot in this opener for a projected Cartoon Chronicles of America, lightened by banter and occasional sight gags, will put visually oriented learners in the thick of the action. The comic is sandwiched between prose analyses that separate fact from fancy. (Graphic fiction. 10-12)
