This is a story which needs to be told.  Sarah Emma Edmonds was a spy for the Union during the Civil War.  The Union Army knew her as a man, and she took on a series of roles which crossed both race and gender lines in order to gain information for her side.  The illustrations are slightly impressionistic images of Edmonds in her various roles as well as more generalized frames of the period.  Some may find problems in the thesis of the text.  Jones repeats over and over that Edmonds was pretending to be a man, and in an age of gender politics, it feels strange to not mention even the possibility of a trans or queer identity.  It is understandable to not want to get into this complex topic in a children’s book, but it does seem odd to emphasize the pretense so monotonously.  However, Edmonds’ story is fascinating and should be part of our collective memory of the Civil War.