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Father Son Duo Release Third Title In Revolutionary War Series

by Tara DeLorenzo

Children’s author Robert J. Skead with his father, Robert A. Skead, of Wykoff, are marching into adventure again with the final installment of their American Revolutionary War Adventure series with the release of American Revolutionary War Adventure Series –Links to Liberty on Oct. 5.

The trilogy’s conclusion American Revolutionary War Adventure Series – Links to Liberty follows series protagonists John and Ambrose Clark as they pursue the spy who gave away the secret of their father’s mission. When there is an attack on America’s new defense on the Hudson River – the Great Chain at West Point – they go to protect it, quickly discovering things aren’t always as they seem.

The American Revolutionary War Adventure series began long before this writing team put pen to paper, when Robert J. Skead was on a family trip visiting the Van Allen house, a place George Washington stayed during the American Revolution on July 14, 1777. It was as they were reviewing the history marker at the house that he realized they were visiting on the same day George Washington had been there, and he started to form the idea.

It wasn’t until years later though that he pursued this story. His father had started working on the family genealogy and found they had a relative in the American Revolution. Excited about this piece of history, his father joined the Sons of the American Revolution and as he showed his son his certificate for it one day, Robert J. Skead told his father of his idea. Within a couple of days, his father took the elevator pitch of a story concept his son shared and created story treatment that he shared with his son.

“It had characters, and he had named the character Lamberton Clark after our ancestor who was in the American Revolution and his sons Ambrose and John after this gentleman’s sons and he had a treatment of a story that had a beginning, middle and end,” Robert J. Skead said. “It was probably like 7-8 pages long, and just for fun, I banged out the first scene of the book in a story format where the twins and their dad are running away from redcoats, shooting at them with a secret spy letter from George Washington. I emailed it to him and just like any kid wants to show their work to their parents and they’re excited about it, I called him and told him to check his email, so he does and 20 minutes later, he calls me back and he said the two scariest words, ‘Keep going.’”

And with that, the American Revolutionary War Adventure series, a series targeted for middle grade readers, was born, and the first book Patriots, Redcoats & Spies was started. Robert J. Skead would write a scene or two a day, sending drafts to his father who would, in turn, edit, give feedback and write his own sections.

Something important to father Robert A. Skead was making sure the characters throughout this series were of good moral character.

– and he wanted to make sure that the boys displayed good character, and there was some moral to the tale,” said Robert J. Skead. “The hard part was – and this is a little bit of a spoiler – but they have to steal a horse; they have a spy letter from their dad they have to get to George Washington in the first book, and their dad is shot and and all they know is George Washington is somewhere in the Morristown, New Jersey, area, and they have no resources, so they have to steal horses, and it was the only way to get the job done, so we had to do it. So, in terms of morality, how do you have kids stealing something and then make it good? But we found a way to do that that kind of saved the day, and I’ve actually had parents and teachers tell me that they really liked how we handled that, so that’s cool.”

For the second book, the duo approached writing Submarines, Secrets & A Daring Rescue a little differently. Instead of a story treatment, they created an outline, leaving a little more room for creative inspiration as they went along. They did the same for their upcoming release as well.

Each release too required not only creativity, but detailed research to ensure they were following history. And looking back on the process of writing the series, the research became one of their favorite parts of putting everything together.

“My dad and I did a lot of research and read books on it, so I think the education that came about was one of my favorite things of writing this series, and part of that education was learning about George Washington – he is such an amazing figure in the American Revolution, and my appreciation for him as a man, a person, and a leader definitely has sky-rocketed, and then you learn about other figures during the American Revolution that are involved in these aspects of creativity and you get impressed with them as well,” said Robert J. Skead.

With all their efforts too in historical accuracy, the writing duo was determined to find landmark strategies and technology in the American Revolution to craft their novels around.

“The interesting this about this series, it’s intentional, and it’s that we took elements of the American Revolution that kids aren’t typically taught in school, and we use them as hooks,” Robert J. Skead said. “For example, Patriots, Redcoats & Spies deals a with the Culper Spy Ring. If I knew about that as a kid, I’d have loved to learn more, but I was never taught spies or spy rings or that George Washington had a spy ring, so that’s a cool hook for the first one. And then for the second, as I researched, I discovered that the first submarine invented for warfare was invented during the American Revolution; it was called the American Turtle. So, I knew that had to be the hook for the second.”

For the third, the duo knew of the Great Chain at West Point, an iron chain built for Patriot forces to block British ships from sailing up the Hudson River during the American Revolution, and knew it was the right hook for their third novel.

And as someone who hadn’t loved reading as a child but found a love of fiction as he discovered Tom Clancy novels, Robert J. Skead was determined to give that adventure-filled reading experience to children of all ages.

“Boys and girls like adventures, so I wanted these stories to be like that the Tom Clancy books and James Bond movies I love,” he said. “There’s a lot of action in each story. It’s the American Revolution, It’s wartime, so there’s gunfights and knife fights and battles and tests of courage and bravery.”

This third installment comes six years after the series’ last installment. Zonderkidz, a division of HarperCollins published the first two as a two-book deal, but after finding the hook for a third, the father son duo immediately jumped into a third, so this installment has been completed

since 2014 and the pair are eager to have readers have answers to the questions left in book two. Links to Liberty and the rights to the series’ previous two novels in order to publish them in paperback, were picked up by Knox Press, after one of the publishers, a fellow Sons of the American Revolution, saw their potential.

“We’re just so excited to have the trilogy be complete and have our readers see how things work out, and new readers get to experience the trilogy as well since there are some unanswered questions in the first two books that get solved in this,” Robert J. Skead said. “I think this is the last book my dad and I are writing together – he’s 95 years old. I’m excited for him to have that feeling when they first send us the books, the advanced copies, and you get to hold it for the first time.”

While the series may be complete, Robert J. Skead has plans to continue writing novels, and while his father won’t be co-writing, he is still sharing his work with his father, working with him to gather feedback. His current novel is set during World War II, a war Robert A. Skead fought in. And no matter what he writes, this series will always be one of his proudest accomplishments, he said, and he hopes the series will help inspire readers too.

“Kids will ask what my favorite book I wrote is and I’ll always say this series because I did it with my dad, and I don’t mean that in a cliché way, it was just a really special bonding experience,” Robert J. Skead said. “I feel our goal is to have kids read these and be inspired. The characters are 14 in the first book, 15 in the second, and 16 in this one, so they’re teens, but we’re hoping kids, teens, and adults will read these and be inspired to do big things – that’s my favorite part.”

American Revolutionary War Adventure Series – Links to Liberty will be available in paperback wherever books are sold on Oct. 5. Knox Press will be donating a portion of the proceeds of the book to Mount Vernon to help preserve, restore and manage the estate of George Washington.

Let’s Celebrate Ro The HUMC Foundation held a party for Ro Sorce’s 70th birthday to benefit the Wonderful World of Birthday Wishes program at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. For more information visit: www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/bdaywishes