Read to Them offers you a fine way to experience the American Revolution and help you celebrate its 250th anniversary with Sophia’s War by Avi.
Sophia’s War ferries readers to New York City in 1776, occupied by the British – when all Americans must decide whether to remain a loyal to the King, to support the Patriot cause, or stay out of the fight and go about their business. Sophia and her family are Patriots; her father and brother are both away fighting for the cause while Sophia and her mother must hide their copies of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense lest it give away their sympathies.
Trouble arrives in the form of a British officer, Captain John André, who is assigned to live in Sophia’s home. Expecting a monster, Sophia finds him to be a charming British gentleman who treats her with courtesy and respect. He also happens to be the man who will recruit General Benedict Arnold, the great American military hero, to switch over to Great Britain’s side in a gutting blow to the Patriots.
Everything changes when Sophia’s brother dies on a British prison ship. Angered and inspired, Sophia becomes a hardened patriot and is recruited by General Washington’s intelligence network to become a spy. Major André is promoted to become chief of British intelligence and Sophia is assigned as a house servant to clean his room. She isn’t afraid to read André’s correspondence, where she discovers some of his letters are in code. Sophia collects evidence, makes deductions, and is shocked to discover André’s plan to meet with Benedict Arnold where he’s stationed at West Point (an important fort up the Hudson River). Their plan? To capture General Washington when he comes to inspect the fort Arnold commands!
The last third of Sophia’s War is a breakneck race against time as Sophia heads north, using all the mysterious details of André and Arnold’s plan – the ships, the ferries, a clearing in the woods, the geography of the Hudson River – to get to West Point first and alert General Washington’s staff – if only she can get someone to believe her!
Sophia’s War brings the day-to-day life of the Revolution dramatically to life for your students. Avi vividly paints the world of New York City featuring servants, well laid meals, newspapers, and taverns. He highlights the nasty reality of war, too, taking readers to the squalor of prison ships, and provides a glimpse into how military and intelligence officers of the Revolution operated.
Sophia is not afraid to look the truth in the eye and do something about it. Using a savvy, independent girl as the protagonist illustrates the ethos of the American Revolution. Sophia exemplifies Thomas Paine’s notion of America as a ‘blank slate’: “We have it in our power to begin the world all over again.”
Ultimately, Sophia’s War provides you with inspirational fodder to discuss the meaning of the 250th Anniversary. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, famously wrote a generation later: “The Revolution is never over.” Following his challenge, you can ask your students how those principles are still with us. Have they changed? What remains to be achieved in the spirit of the Revolution?
