This Thrifty Guide makes a wonderful addition to a classroom library through Historical relevance and humor. The book relates modern day to past experiences of significant history and makes a funny journey while students learn History. ( )

Published simultaneously with The Thrifty Guide to Ancient Rome, this time travelers' handbook takes readers back to the American Revolution. Written like a guidebook, this includes starred reviews for the accommodations (including prison ships and Valley Forge), people to meet, and landmarks to see. There are also frequent interjections from the indentured servants, I mean authors, and Finn Greenquil, futuristic CEO and dictator of Time Corp.

The narrative is a pretty standard story of the American Revolution, including Paul Revere's ride, George Washington's difficulties during the war, and the Continental Congress. It does have some additional notes regarding slavery and the Founding Fathers, and famous people do include some African-Americans. There is also reference to some of the African-Americans who fought on both sides, trying to find the freedom that the new country denied them.

This is light and amusing, a good introduction for readers who aren't interested in history, or even those who are. I did feel that women were largely overlooked, several pivotal figures being left out. It's also hard to swallow the "humor" of Finn Greenquill who supposedly owns and oppresses the US while reading about the colonists who fought and died for freedom.

Verdict: While I still see a lot of issues with this, I admit that I liked the series enough to read a second title and will probably purchase these. Fans of I Survived, Sarah Albee, and Nathan Hale are sure to enjoy this latest adventure and humor-packed incursion into history.

ISBN: 9781101998113; Published 2018 by Viking; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

First off, in order to conduct my review, I had to almost pry this book from my 9 year old son’s hands as he has quickly adopted it as his favorite book in the house. That tells you something right there. This is a young reader’s survey of the American Revolution that is cleverly disguised as a guide book for time travelling tourists. I liken it to a pill hidden in a yummy desert.
I label this a survey as it is a broad account of the revolutionary war with a decent amount of facts and it is subdivided into individual sections accounting various battles and historic events. The illustrations are both accurate, if a little cartoonish, and entertaining.
Jonathan W. Stokes received his education at Clarmont Colleges which cost more than Harvard. So, it must be good, right? He has written several screenplays for Hollywood as well as multiple books. As a published author, he would be familiar with the fact checking process as evidenced by his selection of Peter Walker of “The Guardian” as his fact checker.
He is no historian, but that is perhaps what makes him fun to read. But, to be fun, an author must often allow a good portion of themselves and the perspective slants as well as their idiosyncrasies to permeate their writing. This may seem a natural assumption for most types of writing but, for historians it is almost heresy. Fortunately, we can forgive the fact/opinion blurring, sensationalism and generalizations because this is not only intended to be a young readers book, it is also intended to be entertaining. It is also forgivable given that it is a history survey and not a focused history.
With regard to content, the scope of the material is adequate to follow the revolutionary war given that all the major battles and events are covered. It honestly treats some of the major events of the Revolutionary War like tourist attractions of history. This may serve to offend some older readers as it may take away from the dignity of these battles. But, I think the target audience would find no offense.
The Style of writing is witty, clear and of a language level appropriate for late primary to middle school age children. The tone throughout is cheerful and informative if a bit whimsical. I must admit, I found it almost annoying as if I were watching an infomercial at first but, I quickly began to appreciate the humor and as a father, I really appreciated that my 9-year-old son enjoyed the book from the beginning.
The book is organized by chapters with an interesting disclaimer on the use and rules of time travel as the forward. The chapters are chronological according to battles and events. Some of the more interesting yet less known characters in the Revolutionary war are treated with full page ads in the form of “Have lunch with…” (Stokes, 2018) attractions with Salem Poor being among the more notable heroes.
There is a table of contents and there are numerous tables and diagrams within each chapter however there is no index nor is there a glossary. However, key terms are defined within each chapter fairly well as they are used although sometimes with a bit of tongue in cheek humor.
All in all, I would recommend The Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution: A Handbook for Time Travelers for grades 3-6 and I would definitely recommend acquisition to the UNO young readers library. I must admit that I found the humor a bit off putting as it is sometimes difficult to discern when the book is trying to be serious or not. In reading other professional reviews I noticed a trend in that many who didn’t enjoy the book tended to dislike the beginning as it goes a little too far toward the fiction of the creation of time travel and while trying to be funny, simply comes off as annoying. Most agree with me however that the book is well suited for the 8-12 year old range and that with this target demographic, the book succeeds. I would definitely use this book in my class as an introduction to the Revolutionary War. ( )