Anne Bailey: Frontier Scout

Children's Literature

Nineteen-year-old Anne Hennis knows England is not for the poor, the uneducated or the female, and embarks as an indentured servant to the New World. Anne works four years without pay; twelve hours a day, seven days a week. She learns to cook, to hunt and to farm, which prepare her for married life with Richard Trotter. She and Richard settle in the mountains, build a cabin, clear some land and Anne has a baby son, William. Richard joins the royal forces to fight Indians on the Virginia frontier and is killed in 1872, leaving Anne to support herself and William. She becomes a guide and then a scout, leaving seven-year-old William to be raised by friends. Years later Anne marries a fellow scout, John Bailey, and lives to a story-telling old age. Some called her "mad Anne Bailey" because of her roughness and scorn for conventional behavior. Solidly researched and tautly written, the book has an index, an appendix of Anne Bailey poems, a ten-page bibliography and suggestions for further reading. This story of frontier life and a woman's growing independence will fascinate boys as well as girls. Part of the "Women of the Frontier" series. 2001, Morgan Reynolds, $20.95. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: Nancy Tilly

VOYA

Anne Bailey was one of the few women scouts for the Colonists during the Revolutionary War, both warning the soldiers of Indian attacks and fetching badly needed ammunition and supplies to forts and settlers. "Mad Anne Bailey," as she came to be known, rambled on horseback, giving up her farm after her husband's death in the Battle of Point Pleasant and becoming well known to pioneer settlers. This basic outline of her life concludes with an appendix of legends that arose to surround this larger-than-life figure of the American frontier. This serviceable biography will help fill a niche for middle school reports, although mediocre writing mars what could otherwise be exciting choices for girls seeking unusual historic figures to write about. It quotes extensively from speeches and documents, and although there is an extensive bibliography, there are no footnotes for a scholar to find the entire speech. A chronology and a glossary also would have been helpful. Minor typos occur in the Bailey book as well. It provides a nice addition to an area that is sparse for middle school students, but better writing would have made this book fly off the shelf. Index. Illus. Biblio. Further Reading. Appendix. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P M (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2002, Morgan Reynolds, 112p. PLB
— Hillary Theyer

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Bailey rode her horse from Virginia to the western frontier and became a scout during the Revolution. (On one page, she did this in 1772; on another, it was in 1775.) Born in England, she headed to the American Colonies as an indentured servant at age 19. She became a legendary heroine of the Colonial frontier but few hard facts about her life are available. Despite a lengthy bibliography, this biography is also short on facts. There are accurate, though general, descriptions of Colonial and frontier life. Bailey's feelings are sometimes fictionalized. Details of particular settings and events often include details lost long ago. "As Anne climbed the ramp to her ship, her strong shoulders pitched forward-. Strands of long auburn hair blew about her lightly freckled cheeks." The author addresses fictionalized and legendary accounts of Anne Bailey's life in the appendix. Black-and-white period prints contribute to the ambience with illustrations of historic figures, places, and events. Two of the prints are of Bailey. However, these are generic depictions of a small, 18th-century woman and are not individually identifiable (which is not atypical of the time period). This lightweight title could help fill the need for biographies on heroic women of early America but it is not a first purchase.-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.