Illuminations Year 4, 3rd-8th Grade

The Secret Soldier is based on the true story of Deborah Sampson. Deborah wanted to travel and have adventures, but since she had no money, the best way to do that was to join the army. This is the exciting true story of a woman who became a soldier during the American Revolutionary War, by dressing and acting like a man. In real life, Deborah fought for her country and was injured in battle, but received an honorable discharge at the end of the war because she not only fought valiantly, but she did so with honor while "at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex, unsuspected and unblemished".

Marianne, heading west with fourteen other children on an Orphan Train, is sure her mother will show up at one of the stations along the way. When her mother left Marianne at the orphanage, hadn't she promised she'd come for her after making a new life in the West? Stop after stop goes by, and there's no sign of her mother in the crowds that come to look over the children. No one shows any interest in adopting shy, plain Marianne, either. But that's all right: She has to be free for her mother to claim her. Then the train pulls into its final stop, a town called Somewhere . . .