i got this book from a little free library and the next day when i was catching up on this is us randall was reading it in a scene. i thought for sure the universe was telling me this book would change my life. it didn’t.

This was a decent 5th grade fiction story on the American Revolution. Probably did a better job teaching about the war than I did.

Read this as GW will be covered in our history soon, especially the Revolution. This is one of my least favorite presentations of the war or GW. I'll put it out for a free read by the kids, but will assign other works.

This book has a exicting momment where you just can't wait untill lunch is over, and you have to finish it now. Most parts of the book doesn't have a lot of facts for you to learn, but it has a lot of action. This book has some parts where you can see the character's internal fears and see how he overcome come all his internal fear and have hope again.
The external fears for the character is a fear that they cannot control and solve, and I like how the author makes it seems like there is no hope left and nothing is possible. This book has made me learn more about George Washington; what kind of life he had, how did he win the war...
I would recommend this book to people who like to explore history and read about advanture.

This could have been fun if the focus could have been more on George Washington instead of on the horrible hardships of war. The lighthearted premise of rowing a boat through time did not match the depressing facts of war. I may have given it 2 stars if something more exciting or profound had happened to the socks.

I believe George Washington's Socks was a five star book because Elvira Woodruff did a fantastiic job making this funny, fantastic and nail-biting! I highly reccomend this thrilling tale.

Childhood nostalgia. I want to read this one again.

Read for Upper El lit circle

This was a gripping, adventurous book. I think that students that might be worried about reading longer books or those familiar with “I Survived” books (but are trying to branch out would like it. It starts off fairly cheesy and humorous but there are many deaths and gruesome descriptions of war. Most children would be fine with it but some might be upset.

Because the character split up, a large chunk of the action is told to the main character in an “oh by the way this happened” which was jarring and seemed like the author may have not outlined very well.

I saw this in the bookshop and it looked cute. I like the idea of going back in time. Luckily it was still there when I pulled books, so I got this for free.
The author dedicated this to her nephews, Matt and Q,& I think it's cute she named two of the characters after them.

I liked learning about the history of the Revolutionary War:
New Jersey was divided in it's loyalties. Many farmers felt they still owed allegiance to King George, and wouldn't accept the new confederate money that the congress had issued to the army. British spies were everywhere. The rebels were ill-trained and inexperienced soldiers, most having more experience with a plow than a bayonet.
The Tories used kids as runners.
The men were John Glover's Marbleheaders, seafaring enlisted men from the north, under Colonel John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
George had 2,400 soldiers on the River Christmas night. He had his officers stick a piece of paper in their hats so they could be recognized in the dark.
There were soldiers in blue, green, brown, and beige costs. Some had tricornered hats, round hats, or headbands with Liberty or death on them. They were called Washington's ragtag band of rebels.
Each colony had a separate style of dress, you could tell them apart by the color.
It covered the other side of war, how not everyone was fighting for country and freedom. Like Israel, some fought for the money to take care of their families.
Drummers had reverse colors from their soldiers. The revels wore blue coats, red facings, so drummers had red coats, blue facings.
If you didn't sign for the King's protection papers it meant your farm was open game for plundering by the British and the Hessians. They were from Hessia and mercenaries, who got paid for killing.
Many American boys were used as spies and runners for the rebels.
King George was running out of British troops to send to America so he paid the Germans to send some of their troops. Many were young boys from farms and needed the money or wanted to be someone special.
The redcoats had false currency they provided their spies, in case they were captured.

The little sister's cuteness wore off very fast. After the first squirt with the water gun, she became irritating to me, and I didn't care for her character. I didn't even think she should have gone back in time with them. She was sort of ridiculous with the water gun, bow and arrows, and sword. Seriously, how can you even carry all that? And I thought it would play a part when she went back in time, but the items were never mentioned again.

I loved the tales about the lake, how people would disappear for a while,& if they came back they were never the same. Because I knew it was going to happen to them.
Tony's grandpa said it was Levart Lake, but it was now called Levy Lake. All the tales of people disappearing had a common theme, that they all went out on a boat, but the people didn't own boats themselves. It always happens under a 3-quarter moon, and it was a 3-quarter that night they camped. I love stuff like that.

His sister loses the bag of marshmallows, and in looking for them, runs ahead on the trail to the lake, instead of back where they had been walking. Why would you go ahead on a trail, when you dropped something behind you? That made no sense to me, and I thought it was a dumb way to get the kids to the lake. They were already heading that way, and wanted to explore around the lake, so they could have just found the boat naturally, without Katie losing the marshmallows, and then jumping in the boat, and them having to go and save her.

It propels them back in time, on the Delaware River, during the winter, so it was covered in ice.
Katie suddenly stands up in the boat on the icy river. Falls out on the ice. Never answers the boys' calls, then she's suddenly just standing there on the ice yelling for help. She was so annoying.

I didn't like it when Matthew got separated from the group, and that captain thought he was a rebel solider. If he had been on the boat with George and the kids, how did he not know who Matt was? Or was this captain already on the shore, and therefore hadn't seen the kids yet?

It was so shocking and confusing how all of a sudden Adam Hibbs had befallen an accident, and lay bleeding in Hooter's lap, after falling on his bayonet in the boat. Why had they left without Matt? They were supposed to wait and take all the kids to Adam's farm. Why did they take off across the river without Matt? I didn't like that the death took place off-page, and we're only told about it after.

I found Israel getting sick and peeing himself too graphic for a kid's book.
Henry the drummer gave Matt strips of cloth so he could tie them around his fingers. Instead of giving them to Israel, he lays them over his wet pants. What a waste of cloth. Then when he hands him the beads, Israel's fingers are blistered and purple. So you should have wrapped them around his fingers like they were intended for.

It was nice of Henry, the drummer, to tell the farmer to look for Matt and Israel, but if they were going to be rescued, why not have Israel make it to the rescue? What was the point? He died shortly before Matt was rescued. Not to mention he only had like two weeks to go until his enlistment and he would go home and be with his siblings. So the whole thing was just tragic and unecessary.


He met up with his friends again, who'd been with Indians. They tell their tale of Adam Hibbs dying. It was sad some men died because they weren't used to having bayonets on their guns. Their boat started to go under and a flat boat saved them, but had to let some horses off for them to fit. We're told it was horrible watching them trying to swim. I was so sick of the graphic, sad nature of this book.

I wondered how Adam Hibbs could be the same age, and it turned out it was his grandson.

You don't mess with time and leave modern items there. Tennis shoes, a video game and batteries. I was so upset any time they kept bringing modern items out like that. And when they didn't even try to speak even slightly more historical so they didn't stand out.

It's always annoying to me in books when animals have human reaction. Matt is talking to the mule, and it nods patiently and then appears to be smiling.

They planned to hold the Hessians at gunpoint and rescue Q and Katie. I thought it was cute when Matt stepped forward and did the one thing he was hoping he wouldn't. He closed his eyes and didn't move, which is what he does when he's scared. Like when he's watching a scary movie, and he has Katie tell him what's happening.

The Germans see the dollar bill with George Washington on it and know that the kids are rebels. Would the Hessians all have known what George looked like? I don't know if that's wrong on my part, but unless newspapers or something were going around with his image on them, I don't know how everyone would immediately know who he was.

I was surprised and it added even more complexity that wasn't explained when Adam Hibbs had traveled through many different time periods in the rowboat before he found that one. That was told off page, with Adam telling Q, so we only got a short rundown of the others' time there while Matt was away.
I found it ridiculous that Adam up and decided to stay there because he saw a pretty girl. He left his parents, family, and friends behind for a girl from a different era? This just boggles the mind. I didn't buy that. It was just so wrong to me, and I didn't like it.
Of course when Adam was getting to the part of how to control the boat and which time period you go to--he said something about the mind--but then died. So the kids are left to just sort of piece together how the boat works, and we don't even get the particulars on the magic in here. It's like it was too tricky to think about, so the author didn't even try.

I liked the nice German soldier who stood up for Katie, and tried to say their names, who Hooter gave a Bandaid to.
Katie was such an irritating character. She had no purpose other than to get in trouble and need to be rescued. She sees ducks on the ice and goes walking out onto the river. They're just ducks. You have ducks where you're from. What is so fascinating that you'd go walking out on an icy river that you've already been on when you fell out of the boat because you stupidly stood up on it, got stuck on the ice and cried for help? Gustav rushes to save her, bravely stepping on the ice. What does he get for his trouble? Shot in the back by the rebels.

I was surprised they would call Washington Your Excellency, making him sound like a king, when he was just a captain.
Then the rebels take the Hessians as prisoners. Gustav could have went with them, if the author hadn't killed him.

It was very mature of them to realize that there are good and bad on both sides, that it isn't so clear as good guys and bad guys. That they were fighting for the same things.

They were waiting by the river, and there was another moment when they thought Katie was lost. I was thinking if she's dumb enough to get herself in trouble again, just leave her there. Get in the boat and leave her in the 1700s.

It was such a cool surprise how the boat Emit Levart spelled time travel backwards. I love surprises and things that connect like that in books. I wish there had been more of stuff like that.

The ending was too easy; the boat just vanishes right from the bank. They didn't even travel on the river.
I didn't think it was right that a soldier saw the boat spinning and them disappear. He tries to tell Washington the kids disappeared but it's explained away by his unruly appearance and whiskey breath. Why have him see it happen at all? Because it was magic, I felt it should have been invisible to other people.

Washington trips getting into the boat,& I think he's found something, but he just remembers he gave his socks to Katie. & that's it. What was the point in that?

There were several sentences missing a period where one should be. Like: "I don't know Katie."
And,
“None of you guys have a little sister, and believe me you don’t know what pains they can be.”

A 5th grader saying "abnormal strength" didn't seem realistic to me.
I was surprised the word damn was put in a kid's book.
7 years old is way too old to be sucking your thumb. Katie acted too childish, more like a toddler than someone in the second grade, and then says "and he gave them to me. Besides, my jeans are all wet and this sock is so big it goes all the way up my leg."

The author included Israel and the beads he wanted to give to his sister. He also promised to protect Matt. I thought the author was going to have Matt, Israel, and his friends travel to his house and deliver the beads to his sister and meet his family. That's discarded by the author, and at the end Washington ends up with the beads and promises to have them sent to Abby. We don't even get to meet Abby.

Once they all got separated, I thought that the POVs would change, so we could read what was going on with the others while Matt was gone. This could have used other POVs.
It ended cute but we didn't even get the reaction of them finding the peas in the sugar bowl.

For me the plot was picked up, dropped. Picked up, dropped again. I just don't understand the author's choices. I don't understand the deaths in here, each one of them was unnecessary and didn't do anything for the plot, and of course they were characters I liked. This was too graphic for a kid's book. I'm 25 and I don't like reading scenes that are too graphic, so I definitely don't think kids would like that.
I don't know why the author would have them all go back in time, and then separate them shortly after, with Matt all by himself and having moments with George Washington that the others didn't get.

The Indians were just random, rushed, and didn't add anything. It was like she included them just because they were there then, but didn't know exactly what they were doing then. There's two random Indian kids that are just alone in the woods. Where do they live? What tribe? Where's the rest of their tribe? When Matt mimes his red-headed sister, they show recognition, meaning they saw Katie, and also who took her, which means they already knew the Hessians were there. They paint war paint on their faces, sneak up to their campsite, actually lay eyes on the Hessians, and then they just leave. I thought they were going to have a cool escape scene where they help get Katie and Q back. But nope. So why write it in the first place?

I expected so much more from this. It was much better in the beginning. Then it got random, the plot sort of meandered along, going in different, unexpected directions. Nothing important happened, nothing about the time period. I thought this would be cute, funny, great insight and moments with George Washington and the Revolutionary War. Washington was barely in here. We didn't even get to see the battles and the rebels winning.
This was a waste of a time travel book.
1.5 stars

Fun little adventure story for kids.

p.88 You're too young to be having to make sense of this war business, though in truth even an old man such as myself can little understand it.
p.107 I'm president of the club and I'll think of something, don't worry.

A fun little journey back to the Battle of Trenton. The reader follows the children through the social and physical landscape of the Revolutionary Era. The high point is meeting George Washington within the story. In addition, the war is not presented as this heroic event. There is a much more balanced organization of the violence and the ramifications of the violence.

This is a fiction youth novel in which a group of children get taken back to the time of the American Revolution. While trying to figure out a way home the children relive parts of the American Revolution and meet George Washington. This is a very enjoyable story that the children love because it is engaging, and there is a lot of adventure and excitement throughout the entire story. This book is good to use as literature component because there are facts that relate to what we are learning during social studies, but there is a fun twist.