Major Impossible (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #9)
2 journalers for this copy...
I've enjoyed Hale's previous graphic-novel-format history books, including One Dead Spy, about the Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, and The Underground Abductor, about Harriet Tubman. While the premise is a bit wacky - Hale, standing on the gallows where he'll die, regales the hangman and the British officer with tales from history, some far distant in time from his own life. It's a mix of humor and fact, and a very enjoyable way to learn history. I spotted this one, about John Wesley Powell's exploration of the Grand Canyon, at Barnes and Noble today, and couldn't resist it! (I've also read a fictionalized version of the trip, The Last Canyon by John Vernon; it seems to adhere pretty closely to the published accounts of the trek, while adding conversations and relationships for dramatic purposes.)
This book covers the journey in pretty good detail, given the format; it has the author's usual snarky-humor but also presents the challenges of the journey effectively. (One fun bit: the provost, the British officer in charge of Hale's hanging, gets himself knocked out early on - by guest narrator Bill Richmond, an African-American prize fighter from the very early 1800s; why he's helping out on a story about the exploration of the Grand Canyon isn't clear, but apparently there were stories that in his youth Richmond was among those at Hale's hanging, and here he claims he was ordered to tie the rope!)
Most of the book focuses on the journey, but there are flashbacks here and there, including one showing how Powell lost his arm during the Civil War - complete with an up-close look at the severed limb, causing the hangman of all people to get queasy.
The book closes with capsule "what they did afterwards" notes from each of the voyagers, and a summary of the story by the hangman to the newly-conscious provost: "A man got his arm shot off and explored a river." Yep, that about sums it up!
This book covers the journey in pretty good detail, given the format; it has the author's usual snarky-humor but also presents the challenges of the journey effectively. (One fun bit: the provost, the British officer in charge of Hale's hanging, gets himself knocked out early on - by guest narrator Bill Richmond, an African-American prize fighter from the very early 1800s; why he's helping out on a story about the exploration of the Grand Canyon isn't clear, but apparently there were stories that in his youth Richmond was among those at Hale's hanging, and here he claims he was ordered to tie the rope!)
Most of the book focuses on the journey, but there are flashbacks here and there, including one showing how Powell lost his arm during the Civil War - complete with an up-close look at the severed limb, causing the hangman of all people to get queasy.
The book closes with capsule "what they did afterwards" notes from each of the voyagers, and a summary of the story by the hangman to the newly-conscious provost: "A man got his arm shot off and explored a river." Yep, that about sums it up!
Journal Entry 2 by 
GoryDetails
at LFL - River Rd. in Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Friday, January 24, 2020
GoryDetails at LFL - River Rd. in Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Friday, January 24, 2020
Released 4 yrs ago (1/25/2020 UTC) at LFL - River Rd. in Manchester, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!** Update: many thanks to Izzy_125 for journaling the book! **
[See other recent releases in NH here.]
I'm a first grader,and me and my mom, and sister always walk by the free library and we take a book and bring a book. Today 1/29/20 we found this book!
