Bestselling Author to Promote New Novel
at Valley Forge National Historical Park
Laurie Halse Anderson Leads Tour and Discusses Forge in the Story's Setting

King of Prussia, Pa. -- Award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson will be in Valley Forge National Historical Park on Tuesday, November 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to promote her new historical novel, Forge.

Set largely in Valley Forge during the winter encampment of 1777-78, this political thriller and coming of age story, is the sequel to Chains - Anderson's New York Times bestseller and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Curzon, a 15-year-old escaped slave passing for free, lives in fear of discovery and forms a friendship with Isabel who is at Valley Forge against her will. The two must sort out their tangled friendship and what stands between them and true freedom.

Anderson, known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, will walk with students and interested guests, as well as a Colonial costumed historical interpreter, the half-mile from the Park Visitor Center to the Muhlenberg Brigade area. En route she will discuss the encampment, the issue of slavery and their importance to the Forge storyline.

"In Forge, I wanted to tell a story that would give readers a glimpse of what life was like for the common soldier during the Revolution and to tell an exciting story based on primary sources so I could show readers what an amazing job the soldiers did at Saratoga and Valley Forge," said Anderson. "It's my hope that readers will walk barefoot in the snow with Curzon, share his dinner of flour and water and learn first-hand about the winter's treachery and the deepest meaning of freedom."

Afterward the author will sign copies of her new book, appropriate for children in grades 5 and up, inside the Visitor Center, where they will be available for purchase.

Anderson's Chains was published in 2008 and also received a National Book Award Honor, an ALA Notable and Best Book for Young Adults award, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book award, and an International Reading Association Teacher's Choice honor.

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