Children need heroes, and sometimes the best role models are their peers. That some of those peers lived hundreds of years ago only adds to the excitement and allure of the new series of books for children based on real events and young heroes of the American Revolution.

In the Personal Responsibility Founders Series’ debut book, The Moonlight Message, author Denice Barlow Brown tells the fictionalized, meticulously researched story of Grace Martin, a young girl living in South Carolina during the American Revolution who demonstrated boundless courage at a critical time in our nation’s history and in the specific history of Grace’s village.

Ever since the Redcoats arrived, Grace’s family and the entire village have been on edge. But once all the men and boys have declared themselves Patriots and gone to fight the British, it’s up to Grace and her older sister Rachel to find a way to protect their village from the spies of the king.

Can girls be Patriots too? That’s the questions on young Grace’s mind. With Rachel’s help and some borrowed boys’ clothing, the two sisters find a way to capture a spy, if ever so briefly, and intercept a critical message. In so doing, notes the author, “They defy convention and honor the American tradition of independence, personal responsibility, and true grit.”

In this exciting first person narrative told by Grace, readers of all ages will be motivated by the realization that digging deep, taking responsibility, and working for a cause greater than oneself is part of our American, and our human, heritage.

Denice Barlow Brown is a writer, illustrator and mixed-media artist who lives and works with her husband, her children and a variety of animals large and small in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.