THE HORNET'S NEST

Canny it was of Sally Watson to connect the Scottish Uprising to the American Revolution as resistance to British rule, especially since it allows her to turn one of her Highland hoydens loose in Colonial Williamsburg. Sixteen-year-old Lauchlin and her older brother Ronald link the two centers of unrest in their somewhat precocious propaganda blasts at the British--Ronald reporting, Lauchlin cartooning; their travels also occasion some revealing comparisons between clan solidarity and colonial class consciousness, with implications for the birth pangs of democracy. Mostly it's a romantic tale of defiance--wearing the forbidden kilt in Skye, teaching staid Virginians the Sword Dance, joining up with Jefferson and the responsible revolutionaries. Ronald's rebellious ardor diminishes with experience and reflection (political labels don't pigeonhole people) but Lauchlin remains a firebrand. A Lark by another name sings as sweet--and you can enlist her to cover Revolutionary War assignments.