Winter at Valley Forge

Graphic Library: Graphic History

by Matt Doeden, Charles Barnett III (Illustrator), Ron Frenz (Illustrator)

Tells the story of the American patriot troops during the Revolutionary War while wintering in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Genres: Graphic Novels, History, American History, Childrens, Historical

32 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2005

About the author

Matt Doeden was born in southern Minnesota and lived parts of his childhood in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and Madison, Minnesota. He studied journalism at Mankato State University, where he worked at the college newspaper for three years. In his senior year, he served as the paper's Sports Editor, which put him in charge of the entire sports section, the sports writers, and the photographers. He covered mostly college sports, but also the Minnesota Vikings, who held training camp at MSU.

His work allowed him to meet and interview people like Dennis Green, Cris Carter, Robert Smith, and more. Matt went on to work as a sports writer for the Mankato paper, and then he got a job as an editor with a small children's publisher called Capstone Press, and in 2003 he decided to start his own business as a freelance writer and editor.

Since then, Matt has written and edited hundreds of books. Lots of them are on high-interest topics like cars, sports, and airplanes. He also writes and edits on geography, science, and even math.

Reviews

[James Govednik · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, for ages 8-10, presents information that students would typically encounter in their social studies textbook, but in graphic-novel format. I'm not sure how to rate this book, since it's the only example of its type I've seen. The book details the terrible winter the Contintental Army endured at Valley Forge in 1777-78 and how they overcame tremendous hardships to put the British on the defensive. The format will help bring the story alive for many readers, espeically boys. Themes of honor and loyalty are well-represented. The ending was abrupt. There are additional facts at the end, as well as a glossary and addtional sources. In some aspects, it doesn't measure up to the other high-quality informational texts available, but I'd say we need more texts like this to help support students in their social studies/history work.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is fun. I've been looking for books that are both engaging and informative about the revolutionary war for my kids. While I thought this was a little light on the historical facts, it did get my children (ages 11-3) engaged and asking questions, which led them to read the more "boring" books with less pictures. ;) The comic book style makes the story easy to follow even for young readers and also appeals to the older set of readers. Overall, I am happy with these books! I'm not sure I would suggest buying them, but renting them would be a fantastic idea.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The graphic book has four main chapters plus sections on More About, a Glossary, Internet Sites, Read More, a Bibliography and an Index.

The book covers the conditions that the soldiers had to live under and the fact that Congress was not really providing them with the help they needed. Amazing. A Congress that is not really doing the job it was elected to do! Sound familiar?

The book discusses what happened to deserters, problems with filth and disease, a lack of supplies and what they army was able to do despite all those problems.

It's all pretty interesting.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

A little too hokey and maybe condescending. Try another title if you can.

[Dreamergirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This grapical-novel showed the horrors of the terrible winter George Washington's army had during the Revolution at Valley Forge in grand detail. The author sure captured everything about this historical event with a lot of purpose. Even for a graphic novel it had a lot of detail (the writing, to me, described even more than the pictures). I would recommend this novel to girls and especially boys (which- who are already interested in history I think would find a lot of use in this action packed graphic)who are somewhere between the middle school grades. The author Matt and illustrater Ron make a good team! They made this into an interesting and terrifying all at once story that really got me excited and longing for more graphic adventures. I (being in love with anything that connects learning and fun) really liked reading about this. As always I was in love with the timeline (I really don't know why that stuff gets to me) and even learned a bunch of new stuff! Definitely a great, fast pasing read... I couldn't wish for more. I love history but I would have been amazed to see some graphical christian books (like historical events)- I think that would be really cool to see from the Graphic Library... I think adults can get a lot out of it, as much as kids...

Grade level: 4th-8th

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this series for our school last year, hoping to entice students into reading more nonfiction through the graphic novel medium. My review is mixed.

First, the layout structure of this graphic novel series is really easy to follow. It's a good introduction to how to read graphic novels in general. I also think that as the story progressed in this particular graphic novel, it became more interesting/engaging. It seemed to be a challenge at the beginning for the author to give enough historical information to get the ball rolling, though, and that was frustrating for me as a reader. It's a problem I have with a lot of historical NF for young adults. The beginning is choppy and dry, so students have a hard time wanting to stay with it.

Bottom line, the book is a good resource, a good intro to graphic novels in general, and I would consider leading students through the dry beginnings to get them to the good stuff.

Will keep you posted as I read through others in the Graphica series.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This provides a decent overview of the later portion of the Revolutionary War.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this series of comics! Fun way to read about history.

[Halee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good graphic novel! Took me about 10 min to read, but was informational about the Revolutionary War.