Spy on History: Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring

I'm an adult but I thought this book was great fun! What an amazing tool to be used in school or for home schooling when you get to your Civil War section. The clues have just the right difficulty for kids, I think, and the story is really engaging and makes you want to keep reading. I would recommend this book to any middle grade aged kids. 5 out of 5 stars. Brilliant.

Good writing and appealing images, with some smart tricks for the little spy in the making too. An intelligent way to introduce complicated historical episodes to children and keep their attention awake.

Excellent narrative about the life of Mary Bowser, servant to Jefferson Davis who risked her life to supply Confederate secrets to the Union. The book does an excellent job of sticking to what is known about Mary (very little!) yet crafting an exciting tale. The book is compelling enough on its own, but the author has also added clues, codes, and other puzzles to solve throughout its pages--an effective way to get children interested in the codes involved in the espionage described in the book!

This book was written perfectly for middle grade readers! The tension built from page to page and day to day. Mary's courage and persistence in working for the greater good is such a powerful message during these tenuous times in which we live. From a different perspective, the sharing with students the uncommon, but oh-so-important, role of a female African American in the Civil War is priceless. Written with a wonderful mix of language to challenge and inspire readers, this book would fit perfectly into fifth grade curriculum in so many ways. Then, there's the interactive search for clues that draws the reader into the story in a new way as well - brilliant! There are a multitude of historical fiction and nonfiction texts, but few are this well written or offer such a unique perspective to truly engage young readers. This will most certainly become part of our reading and integrated social studies program as soon as it is published. I look so forward to the rest of this series!

Spy on History: Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring tells a story about Mary Bowser, a slave working in the Confederate White House during the Civil War. As part of her duties, Mary sees coded documents on the president's desk. She can read (unusual for a slave) and has a photographic memory, and over time begins decoding the messages she sees and sending information back to the Union. This is based on the true story of Mary Bowser, a former slave who delivered intelligence information to the Union during the war.

This is both a reader and an activity book. While you read, you also have the chance to decode the messages Mary finds and solve a mystery yourself! The story is engaging, and there are illustrations and document pictures throughout as well that add to the story. I particularly liked a cutaway of the Confederate White House, showing the layout of the building.

This would be an excellent addition to a study of the Civil War, and I hope there will be additional volumes relating to other parts of history - after all we can definitely trace spies back to the Trojan War, and likely there were many well before that! I'd say it's an upper elementary reading level, so use as a read-aloud through about 3rd grade, independent thereafter.

The book itself is hard cover, and includes an envelope of spy materials in the front, and has a seal on the final pages which give the solution to the mystery.

This book was fabulous! I enjoyed the story, and I loved the illustrations.

Few people realize the vital role former slave Mary Bowser played in the protection of the Union in the Civil War. Mary, encouraged by a Quaker friend, becomes a house servant (slave) in the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family in Richmond. Mary's ability to remember almost everything she sees, combined with her intelligence , allows her to copy much of Davis' correspondence and allow the Union to always be one step ahead of the Confederates.