Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales by Nathan Hale

Books currently reviewed in the series: Donner Dinner Party, Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, and The Underground Abductor

These books contain a lot of text and a lot of information about the historical event. There are many things I learned about events I had previously studied in a school context, but the graphic novels really bring history to life. They are presented in a manner to draw the reader in while staying true to the history. 

However, because the events chosen are oftentimes gruesome and difficult, the books do portray those moments accurately. The illustrations are not graphic even when the text is explaining tough topics though. I would be sure your child is ready to handle tough topics before letting them dive into these books. I have not listed every instance where evil, violence, or hateful things occur because each of these books contain a lot of those moments. They are about wars, starvation, and slavery in the deep south. It is difficult to tell these stories without including these details. 

Donner Dinner Party does have a point where it says if you cannot handle gruesome and graphic content, skip ahead to page 113. This is when it avoids the cannibalism that occurs. 

I really appreciated the author reminding the reader that these events involved real people. When the stories are told in this format, it could be easy to downplay them and forget they are real people. 

Your child may have questions after reading these books as they are faced with a lot of evil that took place in the past. 

Language:
Donner Dinner Party: name calling “you fool”, “lazy lotus and roustabouts”, “you little…”
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: name calling “wicked old buzzard”, “you devil”, “why you…”, “wench”
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: The word hell is used once to reference the place and another time as a curse word. 

Questionable Behavior:
The Underground Abductor: They use opium to quiet the babies when traveling the underground railroad.
Donner Dinner Party: cannibalism is present. The travelers end up eating the dead travel partners as a means to survive. One of the travelers that was eaten was actually murdered first.
Donner Dinner Party: The hangman is more upset about the characters eating a pet than he was about them eating a human.
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: “Caught with their pants down”

Sexual Content:

The Underground Abductor: Minty (Harriet Tubman’s nickname) and Tubman like each other romantically and the hangman says to Hale “I say bring on the hanky-panky and don’t spare the details!”
The Underground Abductor: Minty’s husband leaves her and marries another woman. 

Other Things to Know:
The Underground Abductor: does mention magic. It is a small reference.
The Underground Abductor: Harriet Tubman, or “Minty,” prays throughout the book. Oftentimes, when she prays, the thing happens immediately. For example, she prays for her slave owner’s heart to change or for him to die. He died the next day out of nowhere. She is very upset and prays to God that she is sorry for praying for such a thing.
The Underground Abductor: Nat Turner’s story begins the novel. In it, he is having lots of visions that he says are coming from God. The visions tell him to kill every white person to save their race from slavery.
The Underground Abductor: “The Lord told me” is used in several instances in which slaves revolt.
Donner Dinner Party: Santa is mentioned.
Donner Dinner Party: the grim reaper is mentioned in a symbolic fashion.
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: Each chapter features a picture of Aries the God of War. As the war goes on and intensifies, Aries gets bigger and scarier as a way to depict how big the war was becoming. 

This review is written by Good Book Mom contributor, Tricia. To learn more about Tricia, click HERE.

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