Sunday, April 08, 2007
The Winter of Red Snow
by Kristiana Gregory
This is the fictional diary of a girl who was living in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in the winter of 1777-78. That was the winter, of course, when George Washington and the Continental Army spent a harsh winter without enough food, clothing or shelter to go around. The girl, Abigail, is able to see many of the conditions suffered by the soldiers as well as giving a "first person" account of what it was like to have all these guys descend upon your community. The writing is pretty good, but like a lot of historical fiction for kids, it tends to have a little bit more information than you would expect from a kid's diary. Ah, well, it's still a tome worth checking out.
LibraryThing link
This is the fictional diary of a girl who was living in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in the winter of 1777-78. That was the winter, of course, when George Washington and the Continental Army spent a harsh winter without enough food, clothing or shelter to go around. The girl, Abigail, is able to see many of the conditions suffered by the soldiers as well as giving a "first person" account of what it was like to have all these guys descend upon your community. The writing is pretty good, but like a lot of historical fiction for kids, it tends to have a little bit more information than you would expect from a kid's diary. Ah, well, it's still a tome worth checking out.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, DearAmerica
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Love Thy Neighbor
by Ann Turner
This book, one of the Dear America series, is set in the months just before the start of the Revolutionary War. It's the story of a thirteen-year-old girl, Prudence Emerson, who lives in a small Massachusetts town. She and her family are Tories--people who remained loyal to King George III when the majority of Americans sought independence. The story is one of sadness and anxiety as politics turn friends and neighbors into strangers and persecutors. I don't know why I found the book so fascinating. Was it because it was well written? Or was it just because I had never had a chance to read about the Tory side of the American Revolution before? Either way, it made for a book worth checking out.
LibraryThing link
This book, one of the Dear America series, is set in the months just before the start of the Revolutionary War. It's the story of a thirteen-year-old girl, Prudence Emerson, who lives in a small Massachusetts town. She and her family are Tories--people who remained loyal to King George III when the majority of Americans sought independence. The story is one of sadness and anxiety as politics turn friends and neighbors into strangers and persecutors. I don't know why I found the book so fascinating. Was it because it was well written? Or was it just because I had never had a chance to read about the Tory side of the American Revolution before? Either way, it made for a book worth checking out.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, DearAmerica
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Standing in the Light
by Mary Pope Osborne
One of the Dear America books, Standing in the Light is written as the diary of a young Quaker girl in 1763 Pennsylvania. After a few entries setting up her life as a settler in the Delaware valley, she and her brother are captured on the way to school by Lenape Indians. She is inducted into the tribe as a replacement for an Indian girl who was killed by measles and the entries detail her adaption to a new way of life. It's a nice enough book, though Lois Lenski's Indian Captive blows it out of the water as far as quality is concerned. Whereas Indian Captive entranced me, with this book I was always aware that I was reading a dramatization, a collection of true events that happened to a variety of people. Standing in the Light is worth checking out, but only as an introduction to this particular aspect of Native-Colonist relations. I think the real historical accounts would be much more interesting.
LibraryThing link
One of the Dear America books, Standing in the Light is written as the diary of a young Quaker girl in 1763 Pennsylvania. After a few entries setting up her life as a settler in the Delaware valley, she and her brother are captured on the way to school by Lenape Indians. She is inducted into the tribe as a replacement for an Indian girl who was killed by measles and the entries detail her adaption to a new way of life. It's a nice enough book, though Lois Lenski's Indian Captive blows it out of the water as far as quality is concerned. Whereas Indian Captive entranced me, with this book I was always aware that I was reading a dramatization, a collection of true events that happened to a variety of people. Standing in the Light is worth checking out, but only as an introduction to this particular aspect of Native-Colonist relations. I think the real historical accounts would be much more interesting.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, DearAmerica
Monday, January 22, 2007
A Journey to the New World
by Kathryn Lasky
This is the first book of the Dear America series that I have read. My elder daughter has loved the series for years, but apart from peeking at some of the historical information in the back of the book, I've never read one. Until now, of course. My younger daughter is learning about the Pilgrims, so as a dutiful teacher, I feel obliged to read the same books she has to read. This one's the diary of a Puritan lass named Remember Patience Whipple. She's sailing aboard the Mayflower with her parents and young sister, heading toward a new life in America. I had mixed feelings about the book. On one hand, it was a bit heavy handed with the history. In the first entry, Remember gives us the dimensions of the Mayflower as well as a definition of the "Saints", the group to whom she belongs. I find it hard to believe that a twelve-year-old girl would bother to record this information unless, of course, she was secretly trying to entice her reader to learn some history. On the other hand, a few entries later Remember lists synonyms for vomit--something I would expect to find in a pre-teen's diary. So the story's not a perfect disguise for the history lesson, but Ms. Lasky has made a good attempt. The story is good enough for me to let my girls check it out.
LibraryThing link
This is the first book of the Dear America series that I have read. My elder daughter has loved the series for years, but apart from peeking at some of the historical information in the back of the book, I've never read one. Until now, of course. My younger daughter is learning about the Pilgrims, so as a dutiful teacher, I feel obliged to read the same books she has to read. This one's the diary of a Puritan lass named Remember Patience Whipple. She's sailing aboard the Mayflower with her parents and young sister, heading toward a new life in America. I had mixed feelings about the book. On one hand, it was a bit heavy handed with the history. In the first entry, Remember gives us the dimensions of the Mayflower as well as a definition of the "Saints", the group to whom she belongs. I find it hard to believe that a twelve-year-old girl would bother to record this information unless, of course, she was secretly trying to entice her reader to learn some history. On the other hand, a few entries later Remember lists synonyms for vomit--something I would expect to find in a pre-teen's diary. So the story's not a perfect disguise for the history lesson, but Ms. Lasky has made a good attempt. The story is good enough for me to let my girls check it out.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, DearAmerica
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