ReviewCate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

Lady Catherine is one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite court maidens—until her forbidden romance with Sir Walter Ralegh is discovered. In a bitter twist of irony, the jealous queen banishes Cate to Ralegh's colony of Roanoke, in the New World. Ralegh pledges to come for Cate, but as the months stretch out, Cate begins to doubt his promise and his love. Instead, it is Manteo, a Croatoan Indian, whom the colonists—and Cate—increasingly turn to. Yet just as Cate's longings for England and Ralegh fade and she discovers a new love in Manteo, Ralegh will finally set sail for the New World.

Seamlessly weaving together fact with fiction, Lisa Klein's newest historical drama is an engrossing tale of adventure and forbidden love—kindled by one of the most famous mysteries in American history: the fate of the settlers at Roanoke, who disappeared without a trace forty years before the Pilgrims would set foot in Plymouth. (Publisher's summary from Goodreads)

Over the course of several years in my teaching career, I taught a couple of sections of eighth grade social studies, which consists of early American history. The mystery behind the complete disappearance of the settlers at Roanoke has always intrigued me. Lisa Klein’s Cate of the Lost Colony provides not only an interesting and even probable explanation to the settlers’ fate, but also a keen look into Queen Elizabeth’s court and politics.

While the story primarily centers around Cate, a fictional character whose father’s service to Queen Elizabeth lands her a position as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Klein skillfully weaves both Sir Walter Ralegh’s and Manteo’s, a Native American Croatan, into the fiction, providing the reader with a fascinating account of the events that lead up to the colony’s extinction.  Although, the story’s pace is slow, I appreciated how Klein alternated between Cate’s point of view and both Ralegh’s, and Manteo’s thoughts. I felt this provided a more in depth view of the events without bogging down the story and gave it a more personal feel. 

But what worked best for me was Cate’s characterization.  Cate is a strong and a very courageous young lady. She is honest to a fault and does not fit well into the intrigue of Queen Elizabeth’s court. There were however, times when I thought Cate’s optimistic views were unrealistic. Still, I felt that Cate’s yearn for adventure more than made up for her ability to overlook the treatment dealt out by both Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Ralegh. 

In the end, I felt that Klein’s hypothesis of what occurred during the three years the ill-fated colonists struggled to survive was well thought out and as accurate, a fictional account could be. It is clear that Klein’s novel was extensively researched, and she is adept at bringing together fact and fiction in an entertaining and enjoyable way. For those who like a little romance with their historical fiction Klein provides that too.

Show Me Five Review Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

 Show Me Five is a weekly meme  where  you  post the answers to five questions. It was created by  That's a Novel Idea. The questions number indicates the number of answers you will provide. I enjoy using this format to do reviews because it allows me to put my own flair to it, and I have since developed this format into one of several book projects my students use for their independent reading.

1 Name of the Book:

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (audio version)

2 Word that describe the book

Intense, riveting

3 Setting where it place/characters

Although the story begins in Brooklyn, NY, most of the action takes place in Paris, France and alternates between present day and the late 1890's presenting events of the French Revolution through the diary of Alexandrine Paradis. 

For me two of the most important settings in the story for Andi, the main character, were the Effiel Tower and the French Catacombs. Towards the end of the rising action, Andi goes to the Effiel Tower with the intention of killing herself and is saved by Virgil, a young man she meets in Paris and is drawn to romantically. The Catacomb also plays a large part in the story because it is in the Catacombs where Andi becomes Alexandrine's and experiences this character's final days, as she attempts to first save, then comfort the imprisoned Louis-Charles.

Andi Alpers is the protagonist in Revolution. She is still grieving over her brother, Truman's death, which she blames herself for. The only thing keeping her going is her music and the fact that her mother, who is also grieving over the loss of her son, is incapable of fending for herself. She is also a very angry soul which when not directed at herself is very forcefully directed at father. Both her grief and anger is destroying her ability to care about life. Her hopelessness has her on the brink of self-destruction. Forced to go to France with her father, she  becomes obsessed with with an old diary she finds that intimately chronicles Alexandrine Pardis' life during the French Revolution. Eventually, these two girls lives become so intricately entwined that the past becomes the present, and Andi becomes Alexandrine. 

Ellen Page would be perfect to play both the role of Andi and Alexandrine. Andi is tough on the outside, but her grasp on reality is tenuous at best, and Alex is smart and cunning a true survivor. I think Page's appearance could easily shift between both roles, and she is an excellent actress, very forceful but vulnerable looking at the same time.

4 Likes/dislikes:

• I loved the setting. Donnelly's descriptions of not only present day France, but the France of 1890's because they were vivid and so detailed they had breath and substance. I walked the dangerous streets of Paris, saw the guillotined heads of aristocrats, walked the palace grounds where Louis XVI and Maria Antonieta lived and were eventually were arrested. I also went to the Catacombs with Andi and sat in the library as she researched her thesis and heard her play with Virgil at a Paris cafe.

• I absolutely adored Donnelly's characterization. Andi and Alexandrine came alive for me. Andi's obession with her music and her research on Amade Malherbeau (a fictional 18th Century guitarist) for her thesis was very realistic. I marveled at the strong connection Andi made between Truman and Louis-Charles and their presences in the story added a important emotional link shared by Andi and Alex. Even the secondary characters, and very minor characters were so real that I could see and experience them in each and every scene. For example, when Andi was trying to obtain research from a French library the prickly librarian who seemed hell bent on thwarting Andi getting the books she need was so vividly described that I could see his stern and disapproving face clearly. 

• The audio version of Revolution was read by two outstanding narrators: Emily Janice Card was superb as the voice of Andi, and Emma Bering's French accent was perfection as the voice of Alexandrine Paradis. I still marvel at how a voice can convey a personality so exactly and both Card and Bering accomplished this completely.

• The most amazing aspect of this book was how beautifully Donnelly  integrated the key events of the  French Revolution, the controversy surrounding Louis-Charles' death, and  her two fictional characters.  It was impossible to discern where historical facts ended and Donnelly's imagination began.

Rating 5 Star or less:

Revolution is a five star rating all the way. There is so much more about this book that I loved it would take me  several more paragraphs to tell it all. I love everything about it and recommend it as one of the best YA books published in 2010.

 

Show Me Five Review/Annexed by Sharon Dogar

Show Me Five is a weekly meme created by  That's a Novel Idea where  you  post the answers to five questions. The questions number indicates the number of answers you will provide. 



1 Name of book:

Annexed by Sharon Dogar

2 Words that describe the book:

Speculative, re-imagining

3 Setting where it took place and/or characters:

Setting

Front of Frank's business and canal

The setting of Annexed takes place over a three year period beginning July 13, 1942. The main action takes place at Otto Frank's business located on 263 Prinsengracht, one of three main canals in Amsterdam, Holland. 

Back of Frank's Business showing attic window

Secret entrance to annex

Inside the business, hidden by a bookcase was the secret annex (approximately 75 square meters) where the Franks: Otto, Edith, Margot and Anne; the Van Pels: Auguste, Hermann, and Peter, and Dr Pfeffer hid from the Nazis.

 

attic

 The cramped conditions in the annex created additional tension for all the the residents, and Peter often goes up into the attic to be alone. As Anne and Peter began to get close, the attic become a refuge. 

Tree outside attic window

It is the only place they could see outside because it held the only window not covered. The tree outside the attic window also held the hope that the day would come when they could once be free to live in the open.

 Characters

  

Peter Van Pels is not quite 16 when he enters the annex in 1942. He is shy and has a difficult time adjusting to the confinement of the annex. He is irritable, and finds Anne annoyingly optimistic. He hates hiding, and questions his faith. He also dreams of a lost love and fears never knowing what it is like to experience emotional and physical love. As the days turn into weeks, months and years, Peter realizes that he is falling in love with Anne. 

 Anne Frank is 13 years old when she and her mother, father, and older sister Margot enter the annex. Boisterous and full of life, she has a keen sense of humor and loves to tease Peter. She also has a sharp intelligence that came through in many of the conversations she and Peter shared. Finally, she was driven and dreamed of becoming a writer and wanted more than anything to share her thoughts with the world.

4 Likes/dislikes:

I found the concept of telling Peter's story hard to resist. I have always loved historical fiction and understand that it is a writer's imagination of the events and people that allows me the reader to step into those events and meet the people whose lives were affected. For the most part I found Dogar's re-imagining of the events from Peter's point of view a compelling read.

I really didn't like Peter at first. But as I read and thought about what a boy Peter's age might feel locked up with five adults and two girls, over a period of three years, never knowing for sure whether they would be found, having little to eat, I realized that Dogar's characterization of Peter accurately portrayed a 16, 17, and 18 year old.

I like that the book made me anxious to reread The Diary of Anne Frank (as an adult this time). I liked that it made me do research on my own about the Frank's business, the location, and to view the inside of the annex. I also like that the book, although controversial,  (see article where Sharon defends book against attacks) never once felt like anything more than a well written and carefully researched fictional story.

I appreciated that the story didn't end with Peter's arrest, but took me through what happened after the arrest and at the camp and gave me an idea about how Peter's tragic life ended; something that again is only a ficitional account, but one I felt stayed true to the known events.

5 Stars or less:

I am giving Annexed 4 cherries. I enjoyed the book for exactly what it is a historical fictional that is well researched with believable accounts of Peter's feelings and thoughts. 

Source: Copy received from FSB Media

Review/Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill

What started out as girls' games became a witch hunt. Wicked Girls is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch Trials told from the perspectives of three of the real young women living in Salem in 1692.

Ann Putnam Jr. plays the queen bee. When her father suggests that a spate of illnesses within the village is the result of witchcraft, Ann grasps her opportunity. She puts in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of the people around her forever.

Mercy Lewis, the beautiful servant in Ann's house, inspires adulation in some and envy in others. With a troubled past, she seizes her only chance at safety.

Margaret Walcott, Ann's cousin, is desperately in love and consumed with fiery jealousy. She is torn between staying loyal to her friends and pursuing the life she dreams of with her betrothed.
With new accusations mounting daily against the men and women of the community, the girls will have to decide: Is it too late to tell the truth?

The fascination over the events that led up to and surrounded the Salem Witch Trials continues to spark interest to old and young alike. While teaching social studies, it was always one of my students favorite aspect of the colonization of the New World. For years I have read just about every young adult fiction book written on the subject along with a few nonfiction too, so  naturally I was extremely curious about Wicked Girls.

While Wicked Girls is a very accessible read for the YA audience, and I found the verse format well written, I was disappointed in the book. I wanted stronger characterization, and more facts related to the girls, and the other prominent people involved in Salem Village, such as Tituba, and Reverend Parris. I also would have liked more time spent on the testimony given by the girls and the actual trials.

This was my first experience reading a novel written in verse format, and I had trouble discerning the individual voices of each of the three narrators. I was constantly having to check the beginning of the verse to remind myself who was speaking.  Having nothing else to compare the verse format with, I have to wonder if this is true of all verse novels or just this one.

My students have just finished writing a long paper for social studies about the causes of the witch trails, so I am anxious to get feedback from them about this book. As for me, I much prefer Ann Rinaldi’s novel A Break With Charity than I did Wicked Girls.

Review/Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Daniel’s papá, Marcelo, used to play soccer, dance the cueca, and drive his kids to school in a beat-up green taxi—all while publishing an underground newspaper that exposed Chile’s military regime.

After papá’s arrest in 1980, Daniel’s family fled to the United States. Now Daniel has a new life, playing guitar in a rock band and dating Courtney, a minister’s daughter. He hopes to become a US citizen as soon as he turns eighteen.

When Daniel’s father is released and rejoins his family, they see what five years of prison and torture have done to him. Marcelo is partially paralyzed, haunted by nightmares, and bitter about being exiled to “Gringolandia.” Daniel worries that Courtney’s scheme to start a bilingual human rights newspaper will rake up papá’s past and drive him further into alcohol abuse and self-destruction. Daniel dreams of a real father-son relationship, but he may have to give up everything simply to save his papá’s life. (Summary from book jacket)

Gringolandia is a story that from the very first page had me riding an emotional rollercoaster. I was aghast at the inhumane treatment Daniel’s father suffered. I felt ashamed that I knew nothing about the historical events that Lyn Miller-Lachmann so carefully researched. I ached for Marcelo and his family as they all tried to adjust and come to terms with the six years taken from them. I was proud of the way Daniel continued to care about his father despite his destructive nature, and I was happy and satisfied with the story’s outcome.

There are several reasons why Gringolandia affected me so intensely. One is certainly because I found the plot so complex. Miller-Lachmann had to show several years within a short period of time. No easy task without making the reader either bored or dizzy. However, her effective use of flashbacks and alternating points of view to weave the various events together in order to produce a beautiful and vivid story of people definitely had a great deal to do with playing with my emotions.  

The two major themes in the story were certainly another reason why I felt so emotionally involved. First, the book looks at survival. Marcelo survives unimaginable torture during his imprisonment. The idea that one man could continue to endure so many atrocities without breaking is beyond my comprehension.  Knowing the pain he suffered made his character much more real to me. It also helped me understand his inability to give up and accept the safety of life in the United Sates once he was released and ordered out of the country he so obviously loved. However, Marcelo was not the only one who had survived. His wife and children, Daniel and Tina, were also survivors. Coming to the U.S. after Marcelo’s arrest could not have been easy. Not speaking the language, fitting in at school, finding work, all of these things that I take for granted were huge obstacles they faced when they had to relocate from their home that now threatened their very existence. 

The other theme that tugged at my emotions was Daniel’s desire to have a relationship with his father. For me, this is the element in the story I connected with the strongest. Daniel’s desire is also the main conflict. First, Daniel has to overcome his feelings of guilt over his father’s arrest. Then when Marcelo is released and comes to America, Daniel has to find a way to reconnect with a father whose memory does not match the reality of the person he is now. Early in the story Daniel expresses this conflict after listening to his father describe his reasons for his actions:

“Papa’s words race through my mind. I want to think of him as a hero and me as the son of someone who did great things. Like investigating secret prisons and bearing witness to what went on there. But there’s a huge empty space in my chest when I think of all the time we missed together. Five years, three months, and sixteen days, to be exact. And when I walk out of the studio, my fists are again clenched, and my neck and shoulder ache, as I think of  how he put us in danger, ordered us out of the country⎯and still wants to go back there.”

The disparity between Daniel and his father continues for most of the story. Daniel has adjusted to life in America while it is obvious that his father will never accept "Gringolandia" as home. However, as Daniel begins to understand more about his father, the gulf between their beliefs begins to shrink. In the end, Miller-Lachmann provided me with an understanding of just how important it is to bridge the differences that parents and children often have with each other.

Gringolandia is a luminous novel. Miller-Lachmann’s prose is vivid, her command of plot structure amazing, and her ability to create characters whose voices are so real they jump off the page is dazzling.  Every time I tried to write this review, I found it impossible to convey the power I felt on every page. This is not a book to be missed.

About the Author:

Lyn Miller-Lachmann is the Editor-in-Chief of the MultiCultural Review, author of the award-winning reference work Our Family, Our Friends, Our World: An Annotated Guide to Significant Multiculteral books for Children and Teenagers and the eco-thriller Dirt Cheap, and the editor of Once Upon a Cuento.

Gringolandia  is a 2010 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and has been named a finalist in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year contest in the YA Fiction category.

Also be sure to check out a really great interview with Lyn Miller-Lachmann over at The Rejectionist and her review post on Readergirlz of Dreamer Girl by Pam Munoz Ryan.