Duel! Burr
and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words
Written by Dennis Brindell
Fradin
Illustrated by Larry Day
Walker Publishing Company,
Inc., 2008
32 pages
There are many people that just can’t
seem to get along with one another.
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, two famous men in American history,
were like that. Burr was jealous of
Hamilton because President Washington liked him, and they both did and said
things just to hurt each other. After
being offended by another one of Hamilton’s vicious remarks, Burr demanded that
Hamilton either apologize or agree to a duel.
Hamilton accepted the duel. What
happened after that? Did they really
duel? Did either of them die? Read Duel! written by Dennis Brindell
Fradin to find out!
Larry Day used ink with watercolor
and gouache to create the stunning illustrations in this book. He employed both doublespreads and singles to
display his illustrations, and each illustration directly connects to what is
being described in the text. The colors Day
used are not very bright, and his artistic style is realistic. Both of these characteristics are very
fitting for the time period this story is written about. I really enjoyed these illustrations, and I
believe that they supplemented the text well.
I really enjoyed this book, and I
think it would be a great addition to any classroom ranging from third to sixth
grade. This book could be used as a read
aloud in addition to the textbook to teach about this time period in American
history. It would allow students to get
a deeper understanding of this time period, and it would address an event in
history that many people do not know about.
This book would also be a good resource to use when writing an essay
about this topic. Furthermore, this book
could be used to initiate a writing activity.
The teacher could ask the students to write a journal entry from the
point of view of one of the seconds that accompanied Hamilton and Burr to the
duel. Overall, I believe this book would
be a great addition to any elementary teacher’s collection.
