Patrick Henry

School Library Journal

ea. vol: photogs. reprods. bibliog. index. (First Bks. Constitution Series). CIP. Watts. 1987. PLB $9.90. Gr 4-7 These biographies present factual accounts of two important colonial figures. Well chosen illustrations, selected from old portraits, prints, and documents, enhance the descriptions of life in 18th-Century America and the careers, in Boston and Virginia respectively, of these prominent men. The writing style in both books is competent. Lee's biography lacks information on sources and research methods. Reische's account of Patrick Henry's life is smoother and livelier than Lee's narrative of Paul Revere, and she includes information on her sources. Neither book is as appealing or as readable as Jean Fritz' Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? (Putnam, 1975) or Esther Forbes' America's Paul Revere (Houghton, 1946). However, these new biographies rigorously avoid fictionalization and add many details of background and personal description. Their usefulness in this year of commemoration of Constitutional history offers good reason for their purchase. Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, N.J.