Donald Ewin Cooke (1916–1985)

From Kirkus Reviews:

"The never solved mystery of the raid on Bermuda obtain gun powder for Washington's liberation of Boston in the Revolutionary War is the kernel of fact for this adventure. A rather contrived narrative takes young Tom Rawlins to his older brother's military encampment outside Boston, gets him involved with the high command, including Washington himself. Aware of certain Loyalist sympathies in Bermuda and of Tom's ability as a boy, to take messages without arousing suspicion, the General sends him to Captain Barnaby, alias ""Mr. Harris"". Tom sails with him on his ship for the islands and after the usual amount of stumbling blocks, they drug the governor while a big party is going on and make off with the gun powder."… (mais)

In The Silver Horn of Robin Hood, Donald Cooke weaves together many of the legends surrounding the figure of Robin Hood into a novel for young readers. His goal was to connect the unrelated vignettes into a seamless whole, but the episodic nature of Robin's fabled adventures works against him.

Though no doubt true to the original flavor of the legends, I found this novel a bit more cartoonish than I was expecting. Robin's always ordering up a sumptuous feast, the Sheriff is more a comic figure than a villain, suits o' Lincoln green just magically appear whenever they're needed, the Sheriff's blundering foresters never have the faintest hope of catching the band, and on and on. Though I grew up loving Cooke's Men of Sherwood, this collection was a vague disappointment. I think younger readers would enjoy it more.… (mais)