More than two hundred years ago, Boston belonged to the British.
George was a drummer boy with the King''s soldiers there. He wanted
to be friends with the people of Boston. But they did not like the
soldiers. They shouted and threw things at them. One night, George
and the other soldiers were sent on a secret mission. They crossed
the river and headed toward Concord. George had no idea that this
was the start of the American Revolution. In this I Can Read Book,
Don Bolognese''s vibrant pictures capture the drama and humor of
Nathaniel Benchley''s exciting story.
關於作者:
Nathaniel Benchley November 13, 1915 – December 14, 1981 was
an American author.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts to a literary family, he was the
son of Gertrude Darling and Robert Benchley 1889-1945, the noted
American writer, humorist, critic, actor, and one of the founders
of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City.
Nathaniel Benchley was the highly-respected author of many
children''sjuvenile books that provided learning for the youthful
readers with stories of various animals or through the book''s
historical settings. Benchley dealt with diverse locales and topics
such as "Bright Candles", which recounts the experiences of a
16-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation of his country
in World War II; and "Small Wolf", a story about a Native American
boy who meets white men on the island of Manhattan and learns that
their ideas about land are different from those of his own
peoples''.
Film directorproducer, Norman Jewison made Benchley''s 1961
novel The Off-Islanders into a motion picture titled The Russians
Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming for which he received the
nomination for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. He
was a close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart and wrote his biography
in 1975.
Benchley''s novel Welcome to Xanadu was made into the 1975 motion
picture Sweet Hostage.
His elder son, Peter Benchley 1940-2006, was a writer best
known for writing the novel Jaws and the screenplay of the 1975
Steven Spielberg film made from it. His younger son, Nat Benchley,
is a writer and actor who has portrayed his grandfather, Robert
Benchley, in a one-man, semi-biographical stage show, "Benchley
Despite Himself". The show was a compilation of Robert Benchley''s
best monologues, short films, radio rantings and pithy pieces as
recalled, edited, and acted by his grandson Nat, and combined with
family reminiscences and friends'' perspectives."
Nathaniel Benchley died in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts and was
interred in the family plot at Prospect Hill Cemetery in
Nantucket.
Don Bolognese is the illustrator of many popular books of
historical fiction, including the I Can Read Books Buffalo Bill and
the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr and Wagon Wheels by Barbara
Brenner. He lives in New York City and Vermont.