THEY CALLED HER MOLLY PITCHER

Rockwell (Becoming Butterflies, p. 107, etc.) retells the inspiring story of a woman named Mary (Molly) Hays, who followed her husband into battle with General George Washington at Valley Forge and then at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. That day was brutally hot, and the wounded men would call out to Molly to bring them a pitcher of water. When Molly’s own husband was wounded, she rammed powder into the cannon and kept firing. And so the heroic legend was born. The energetic text appears to be printed on linen, and though it is in very small type for this format, it’s a pleasure to read. The illustrations, in a style echoing early American primitive art are as vibrant in color and spirit. Treated to appear old, the paintings portray the intense cold of Valley Forge and the smoky heat of the New Jersey fields. One double-paged spread gloriously depicts the confusion of hand-to-hand combat with one wounded soldier held in the arms of another á la Michelangelo’s Pietà. A sturdy and determined Molly, a heroic Washington on horseback calmly watching over his exhausted troops bedded down for the night, a painting of the battlefield, and endpapers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution add to the patriotic and feminist mood. Fascinating history to share with young enthusiasts. (author’s note, brief timeline) (Nonfiction. 6-9)