Hannah's Hessian

by V. Albrecht Lillie

Overview

Children's historical fiction, ages 9-12.

When Hannah Atwater's father goes marching off with the Minute Men in the spring of 1775, his last words to her are, "Remember, little daughter, when I come home, you're going to read the Bible to me."

As if poor Hannah doesn't have enough to worry about, including war, the danger of smallpox, and storing enough food and firewood to last the Atwater family through the harsh New England winters, there's also school. She just can't manage to learn to read under the severe gaze of Master Hawkes, who whips naughty pupils at the least provocation.

But worst of all are the rumors that soon arise about the terrifying Hessians, soldiers hired by the king of England to fight the American patriot army. The Hessians, the older children tell her, are eight feet tall, have two sets of teeth, eat boys and girls for dinner, and are coming to find her. And when a procession of Hessian prisoners passes through their own village, Hannah's greatest fear seems to be coming true--or does it?

"Little Hannah in this story will appeal to modern nine and ten-year-olds as much as a little girl of today, although she was young when the Minute Men were called to fight the Redcoats and George Washington was struggling to hold his own against the British . . . Well told, pleasantly illustrated and easy to read, this gives a genuine picture of life in the hard years, 1775-1777, a fine approach to history."
--The New York Herald-Tribune (1958)

"An unusual insight into the mentality of a little girl and an unoppressive historical context recommend this tender story of a child's role in a crucial period of American history."
--Kirkus Reviews (1958)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940044603882
Publisher:	susannealleyn
Publication date:	06/22/2013
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	5 - 11 Years

About the Author

Lillie V. Albrecht (1894-1985), a descendant of seventeenth-century English Puritans, Nantucket Quakers, and Dutch settlers on Long Island, began working as assistant children's librarian at the Westfield Athenaeum in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1927, and was the first curator of its Edwin Smith Historical Museum, serving from 1928 to 1952. The museum's Colonial Kitchen is now named after her.

The Albrechts lived for many years in Westfield, where Mrs. Albrecht became interested in the town's three centuries of history. It was to teach history that she first started writing short stories for children set among the real people and places of western Massachusetts and created the story of fictional antique doll Deborah.

The stories she wrote about Deborah's adventures in Westfield's history eventually became the full-length children's book Deborah Remembers. Publishers at first turned down a book about a doll's memoirs, but encouraged Mrs. Albrecht to write more historical children's stories. She then wrote Hannah's Hessian, which appeared in 1958 and was an immediate success; soon her publisher was eager to publish Deborah Remembers, which has since become the best-known of her books. Deborah was followed by three more stories set in Westfield and western Massachusetts in the colonial and Revolutionary eras, The Grist Mill Secret, The Spinning Wheel Secret, and Susanna's Candlestick.

Mrs. Albrecht's granddaughter, author Susanne Alleyn, is delighted to bring her books to a new generation of readers.