Wyckoff Author, Father Release First Book in American Revolutionary War Adventures Series

Wyckoff resident and author Robert J. Skead’s first book with his father, Patriots, Redcoats & Spies, launches Tuesday and celebrates brotherhood, perseverance and the American Revolution, which is “perfect timing for President’s Day,” according to Skead.

Working from his experience as a child, Skead created the American Revolutionary War Adventures Series inspired by his childhood curiosity. When visiting the historical Van Allen home in Oakland with his own children, where George Washington stayed during the Revolutionary War, Skead’s imagination went wild. The fantasy of what it would be like to be a boy during the Revolutionary War was ignited.

Writing about that moment, Skead says,“I suddenly imagined being a kid transported back in time to 1777 and going on an adventure with George Washington. I knew then I had a premise for a story. And with each step I took, I seemed to get more ideas about what could happen.”

Patriots, Redcoats and Spies is set during the American Revolution in 1777. When Revolutionary War Patriot Lamberton Clark is shot by British soldiers while on a mission for the Continental Army, he has only two hopes of getting the secret message he’s carrying to General George Washington: his 14-year-old twin boys John and Ambrose. Upon discovering that their father is a spy in the Culper Spy Ring, the boys accept their mission without a clue about what they may be up against. They set off from Connecticut to New Jersey to find General Washington, but the road to the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army is full of obstacles, including the man who shot their father who is hot on their trail.

Skead says the book also teaches readers about key events that took place in Bergen County in 1777 near Wyckoff.

But what makes this book a little more special, perhaps, is that Skead wrote it with his father, Robert A. Skead.

“When I became a published author years ago, I never imagined that one day I’d write a book with my father, now age 89,” Skeed said. “You can imagine how excited my father is, and I’m right there with him.”

“Looking back, all I can say is that it was meant to be that I write this story with my dad.”

Patriots, Redcoats and Spies is available in hardcover for $14.99 on Feb. 3.

To check out Skeed’s new picture book, Something to Prove, visit www.robertskead.com

Like him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/RobertJSkead