Irwin Springer

Irwin Springer is a boy with an eager fascination for history, especially the American Revolution. While reaching for a book about Benjamin Franklin at Whit's End, he falls and dreams that he has landed in July 1776. Irwin escapes British soldiers with Nathan Hale, helps scatter the redcoats, and carries a letter from George Washington to the Continental Congress. There he watches John Adams argue for independence and sees the colonies approve the Declaration. His excitement nearly gives away knowledge no boy of that time could possess. Irwin wakes only seconds after his accident, but the adventure makes the people and choices of history feel immediate and real. His curiosity turns a shelf of old books into a world worth exploring.