Author Description

Tensions are high in the beautiful valley of the Hudson River below the village of Saratoga in the hot and steamy summer of 1777. A large army commanded by the British general, John Burgoyne, is approaching from the north, and an army of patriots is gathering just to the south, determined to block their path. Annie Blair's family and their neighbors, both patriot and Tory, are caught squarely in the path of a conflict about to ignite. On a moonlit August night, Annie sees Liam Ratch, her Tory neighbor, steal her family's team of oxen, Goliath and Fred, right out of their pen. When her brother Josiah's duties as a militiaman getting ready for the coming fight make it impossible for him to search for the oxen, getting them back becomes Annie's quest. With her friend John's help, she sets out to do just that. The adventure on which Annie and John embark finding Goliath and Fred is filled with danger. When they do find them, Annie will quickly learn that not all victims of war are in uniform, and not all people on the other side are enemies. SANDRA E. MCBRIDE grew up just 15 miles from the Saratoga National Historical Park where the Continental Army under General Horatio Gates made its courageous stand against British General John Burgoyne and his troops at the Battles of Saratoga in September and October of 1777. As a child, she often played with her sister and her cousins on the very ground once fortified by Continental soldiers. With a lifelong interest in American history, Sandra often writes about the Revolutionary War and Civil War eras. Her short story, The Enemy, also based on the Battles of Saratoga, was published in the October, 2006 issue of Highlights for Children. A native of Mechanicville, New York, Sandra is also the author of Mist Upon the Pond, a collection of poetry "aimed squarely at the heartstrings, the bootstraps and the funny bone." Now retired, she continues to write poetry and fiction as well as feature articles for The Express, a local weekly n