Nathan Hale Books In Order

Publication Order of Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales Books

Publication Order of Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale is a best-selling comics and children books, author, and illustrator. The Utah-born author was born in a family where fantasy stories were read aloud at night because the family did not have a TV. This explains Hale’s love for the written word and his decision to focus on children’s literature. Nathan studied at Cornish College of Art. After graduation, he was immediately hired to paint a display in a dinosaur museum, which marked the beginning of a career in natural history painting. Hale lives with his family in Utah and is an enthusiastic Lego sets collector.

One Dead Spy

One Dead Spy comes first in the Nathan Hale Hazardous Tales series. The author’s namesake was an American spy and a Revolutionary War hero who is remembered for the sacrifice he made for his country. Hale’s early days in Yale were just as unlucky as his later ones. While he is remembered as a hero, he was unlucky to face the hangman. However, Hale was courageous enough to face the hangman and declare that the only thing he regretted is that he only had one life to lose for his family. This story sounds crazy, almost untrue, but history has proven that Hale was hanged by the British, and he faced his death with courage.

In this book, the author retells this story but in a fresh way. Nathan Hale’s life and his role in the Revolutionary War are told using colorful illustrations, outstanding graphics, and witty words. At the start of the book, you will read Hale’s famous quote and get to see him right before a giant history book swallows him. Once the history book spits him out, Hale tells of his time-travel to the future and the battles to come. The hangman is so captivated by Hale’s story that he sits quietly and listens to him just like a child. However, the British Provost remains skeptical and questions Hale’s claim that he knows what will happen in the future.

This book comes with an amazing story of a hero who remains an important part of history. It is amazing how the author has blended facts, fiction, quotes, charts, and maps to bring this story to life. To lighten the mood, the author uses pictures and jokes that will put a smile on your face. There is also the story of Crispus, which is quite hilarious. Graphic novels work great to help young readers understand the story, and this book is not any different. If you want to introduce history to young readers in a fun way, this book is a great choice.

One Dead Spy is a great blend of fiction and non-fiction. The book comes in the form of a graphic novel that young readers and history fans will find entertaining. At the heart of the novel is a story of a war hero who served his country well to the end. The author has also included odd tales of famous people and the major events recorded during the Revolutionary War. It is amazing how the author has balanced text and humor to create this fast-paced story. Everything from the character development to visual and dialogue is done right, and you have to read the end to tell fact from fiction. You will enjoy the story even if you are not within the targeted audience.

Donner Dinner Party

Donner Dinner Party comes third in Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales stories. In this book, Hale takes us down memory lane to 1846, when a group comprising of several families left Illinois for California. The journey was long, so to save time, the families decided to take a shortcut. However, as they soon realized, this was a wrong choice, and the disastrous consequences that followed them pushed those who survived to their limits. Bad weather and bad luck saw the people starve in those cold mountains and what they did to stay alive remains unbelievable. While this part of US history is rarely discussed, the truth is that it happened and shows just what humans are capable of in their quest for survival.

This story is told from the point of James Reed. James was in favor of Hastings, a man who killed a human being and joined a war while thinking that his family was safe. Little did he know that his family was starving to death on the other side of the mountain. Considering Hastings is among the few who came out of Sierra Nevadas without eating a fellow human being, he was a perfect main character in this story. The author has done an amazing job of bringing this story to life. He has incorporated humor and art into it, making it light enough for the kids to handle, and the balance between the jokes and horrors is just right.

The story mostly focuses on the hardships the immigrants who went on this pilgrimage underwent. Hale only focuses on a few members of these families, which helps make the story simpler. The artwork is engaging and comes in three colors, black, green, and white. To make the details less scary, blood is colored green. The author provides a warning in advance for his squeamish readers, detailing what pages, especially on cannibalism, to skip. While he incorporates humor throughout the story, it is outstanding how delicately the author handles the issue of cannibalism and the fate of those who got caught up on that unforgiving mountain.

Donner Dinner Party is a great book for anyone interested in the story of America’s expansion westward and the gruesome events that took place during this time. The narration is done well, and the graphics are just right for the target audience. Like in the first book, the author has included a note that distinguishes fact from fiction. Aside from the humor, the story remains informative, making this a perfect book for introducing American history to young readers. There are many jokes to crack you up, so do not be surprised if you enjoy the book more than your children.

Nathan Hale is a New York Times bestselling writer and Eisner Award-nominated author, illustrator, and graphic novelist hailing from The United States. He is particularly famous for writing the Hazardous Tales book series. This series features the lead character, his namesake Nathan Hale, who is about to get executed, but uses his cunningness to keep his executioners intrigued with interesting historical stories and keep delaying his execution. In each book, the author has described a new historical story showing the chief protagonist regaling his executioners with intriguing tales that also keep the readers hooked until the end. In addition to this widely successful series, Hale has penned several picture books, comics, and children’s books. Some of his famous picture books include Yellowbelly & Plum go to School, The Devil You Know, Twelve Bots of Christmas, etc. Hale’s graphic novel, Rapunzel’s Revenge, was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Award. He worked as an illustrator on this novel.

Following the tremendous success of the novel, Hale was again hired to do the illustrations of its sequel called Calamity Jack. Several other novels illustrated by Hale include The Dinosaur’s Night Before Christmas, Frankenstein-A Monstrous Parady, Animal House, etc. The sci-fi horror comics written by Hale include Apocalypse Taco and One Trick Pony. Hale has a deep interest in history and comics, which led inspired him to write the Hazardous Tales novels. Whenever he reads a story that actually took place in the past, it gives him a chill to present it to the world in his own fun way. Just like many others, he too gets bored with remembering historical dates and names. But, when a piece is filled with motives and characters and reads like a novel, he gets very much interested in it. Hale likes to read stories describing people indulging in doing crazy things.

When author Hale was small, he wanted to visit an island and explore it. He feels writing his books and illustrating them in his own exciting ways is like going on such an island. During the times that Hale is not writing a new story, he usually keeps himself with illustrating. That is one work that he does most of the time. Illustrating and writing are the only two things that keep him busy throughout the day. Other than those, he just likes to eat and sleep. Being able to write and illustrate his own work feels great fun to him. After writing a new story and allowing it to go through the editorial procedure, Hale sits down to carry out the illustrations. He finds it quite cool to be able to add jokes here and there, change things around as per his wish, and include new dialogues and lines wherever he pleases. This fun is not there when the manuscript is written by someone else.

The last additions done by him during an illustration often turn out to be the best parts of the novel. On an average, Hale takes around three to four months to write a book and another four to six months for drawing, lettering, and coloring it all. Very often, Hale gets inputs from readers about the historical periods he should write about. This way, they have impacted his work a lot. The requests and suggestions often make him write stories that he would not have written otherwise. Sometimes, it becomes really difficult for Hale to write about a particular historical figure because there are gaps when it comes to finding information. Also, it is not possible to know all about a person, their work, and the features of their personality. It tends to become frustrating at times for Hale, especially when he wishes to bring the character to life in his book.

A typical research schedule followed by Hale at the time of writing a new book includes lots of reading and traveling to sites of historical importance. He tries his best to find visual references because it is important for him to give true information with respect to weapons, costumes, and other aspects of historical stories. Being a popular author, Hale thinks it is his duty to guide aspiring authors on the right path. He likes to advise them to read and write a lot and try to read outside one’s favorite genres. Hale thinks the more subjects people will read, the better they will become at finding interesting stories to write. Author Hale resides in Utah and works from the comfort of his home to write interesting stories one after the other.

Author Nathan Hale began writing the Hazardous Tales series in 2012 and came up with the first couple of books in the same year. Some of the interesting historical characters depicted by him in this series include Nathan Hale, William Cushing, Araminta Ross, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Stephen Austin, Harriet Tubman, Gilbert du Motier, Alexander Hamilton, John Wesley Powell, Marquis de Lafayette, Toussiant Louverture, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, etc.

An exciting book written in this series by Hale is entitled ‘The Underground Abductor’. It was released in 2015 by Harry N. Abrams and tells the story about how Araminta Ross achieved freedom from being a slave and went on to live with the new identity of Harriet Truman. Initially, it is depicted that Araminta Ross was born in a family of slaves in the early nineteenth century in Delaware. She feared that she could be snatched from her family at any time and made to work for abusive people in dangerous environments. Araminta knew that the concept of slavery was not prevalent across the Mason-Dixon line. She decides to run away to live a free life. But, the task is not going to be easy and there are dangers at every step. Araminta puts her trust in God to keep her safe and attempts to cross the Mason-Dixon line successfully. Once there, she changes her name and becomes Harriet Tubman. From then on, she spent her whole life helping people run away and become free from slavery. Araminta Ross put her life in danger every time thinking that she was doing a great service to humanity.

Another interesting novel of the series is called ‘Lafayette’. It was also published by Harry Abrams in 2018. This book talks about the life of Marquis de Lafayette and his contribution to America’s Independence. At a young age, Gilbert du Motier changed his identity to Marquis de Lafayette and was eager to indulge in adventure. He did not enjoy French nobility’s comforts and wanted to prove his worth in battle. After becoming a general at the young age of 19, Lafayette decided to become a part of the American Revolution. He traveled overseas and joined George Washington and Alexander Hamilton in fighting for the independence of America. His contribution is remembered even today.