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

Book: Spy on History: Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring by Enigma Alberti with illustrations by Tony Cliff

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring introduces an exciting interactive series for middle grade readers—Spy on History, where the reader gets to experience history in a whole new way.

Meet Mary Bowser, an African American spy who was able to infiltrate the Confederate leadership at the highest level. Enigma Alberti dramatizes Mary Bowser’s suspenseful story—how she pretended to be illiterate, how she masterfully evaded detection, how she used her photographic memory to “copy” critical documents.

Using spycraft materials included in a sealed envelope inside the book, a canny reader will be able to discover and unravel clues embedded in the text and illustrations, and solve the book’s ultimate mystery: Where did Mary hide her secret diary?



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

History is full of stories, many that are very well known while others such as with Mary Bowser may not be as well known.

I will admit that prior to reading this I had no knowledge of Mary Bowser nor all that she did and risked in order to help the Union in defeating the Confederate.

Spy on History is told in a narrative voice giving the reader a look at what it must have been like for Mary, a free black woman, who went undercover as a maid in the Confederate White House in Richmond, Virginia. What made Mary the perfect spy was that she was a black woman who could read and write but also had a photographic memory. And being a black woman in the Confederate south, no one would take any notice of her especially when she pretended to be dumb. Mary had been recruited by Elizabeth Van Lew who had built a spy ring sending valuable information to the Union.

The writing brought out the drama and suspense as Mary carried out her duties looking for clues and information trying to stay under the radar. Every moment that was available to her, Mary would search through the papers in President Jefferson Davis' office or ease drop on conversations to gather as much information as she could. She constantly had to evade the ever growing suspicions of the other maid Mary O'Melia but even that wasn't going to stop her. She knew the importance of what she was doing.

Although this is a children/middle grade nonfiction book you get a good understanding as to what was going on during the time of the Civil War. I did not mention this earlier but this is an interactive book. There are clues given throughout in which you can decipher them using the information in the book and tools that are provided in the spy kit. There is also beautiful artwork featured throughout that perfectly captures the story.

This is a good read for history buffs of all ages and reading this piqued my interest in learning more about Mary Bowser. The bibliography pointed me in the direction of another book I would like to read "The Secrets of Mary Bowser" by Lois Leveen.