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Good book, and enthralling story. But I must admit, the writing style of the 1940s wasn't all that tightly structured. Lots of POV shifts that were hard to deal with, a lack of dialog tags making it difficult to figure out who was speaking, etc. I realize it was written in Omniscient POV, but still... it was not an easy read.

The story line, however, was great. I loved the setting and history of the story. The emotion of the accident with the silver, and the change of circumstances for Johnny, were very well written. I could feel the despair that the boy experienced. Watching his fortune change for the better was one of the reasons the book is so good.

I do have a beef with two items, however. In the introduction (by Gary D. Schmidt, English professor at Calvin College), it says: "And not all the Americans are noble. Sam Adams will use anything to fight for his cause, even means that he knows are underhanded."

I strongly disagree with this. As rebels, I am sure they did plenty of things that may have seemed underhanded to those loyal to the crown. But for Schmidt to say that Sam Adams was not noble... and that is what he means by using Sam as his first example... is downright despicable. These men, although not at all perfect, were some of God's finest sons, fighting for liberty and the hope of a country unlike any other country ever founded. A place where "A man can stand up".

Quote from Chapter 3: "Fellows like Mr. Hancock and Sam Adams, calling themselves patriots and talking too much. Not reading God's Word--like their parents did--which tells us to be humble."

Uh... Wrong. Samuel Adams was very devout. If you read the Writings of Samuel Adams, it becomes quite apparent that he was a scriptorian. He knew the bible quite well. So this assertion by the author did not sit well with me. I'm not trying to set up our founding fathers as being men without fault, but this claim by characters in the novel should have been corrected. Johnny should have seen that Samuel was a good, God-fearing man.

Apart from these items... I would highly recommend the book. A great read!