Literature Young Adult Fiction » Historical Fiction http://www.literatureyoungadultfiction.com YA Readers Reviewing Books. Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:47:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Review: Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson http://www.literatureyoungadultfiction.com/review-hattie-big-sky-by-kirby-larson/ http://www.literatureyoungadultfiction.com/review-hattie-big-sky-by-kirby-larson/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 09:15:17 +0000 PirateYarr http://www.literatureyoungadultfiction.com/?p=803

by BookWatch, guest reviewer

Title: Hattie Big Sky
Author: Kirby Larson
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 304
Grade Reading Level: Grades 7-9

Summary: This book is about 16 year old Hattie Brooks who is an orphan living with her aunt and uncle in Iowa in 1918.  She inherits a homestead in Montana and travels on her own to claim it.  It is the middle of winter and she must learn to survive alone in harsh conditions and determine how she will fence the homestead and cultivate a crop so she can keep it. She has less than a year to accomplish this. This book also confronts the prejudice against her closest neighbor, a German American farming his own homestead during World War I.  When you are reading this book you feel like you are right there with Hattie. It is a very personal account and it includes letters she writes to her home newspaper and to her best friend who is in Europe fighting World War I.

Why I started this book:

My favorite books are the Newberry Award winners.  I have a goal of reading all of them and I have quite a few to go. This is a Newberry winner.

Likes:

  • When you are reading this book you feel like you are right there with Hattie. It is a very personal account and it includes letters she writes to her home newspaper and to her best friend who is in Europe fighting World War I.
  • It is based on the true account of the author's great-grandmother. I found her courage amazing, not only in facing dangers and harsh conditions but in standing up for what she knew was right and being a true and loyal friend.

Buy: Hattie Big Sky

Rating: 5 treasure chests.

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by BookWatch, guest reviewer

Title: Fly Girl
Author: Sherri L. Smith
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 256
Grade Reading Level: Grades 7-9

Summary: Fly Girl is about an African American girl, Ida Mae during World War II who wants to be a pilot and also help the war effort.  Her father had already taught her how to fly his crop dusting plane.  When she learns about the WASP (Women Airforce Service Program) she decides to join even though they will not accept applicants from her race.  She is light skinned and passes as a white girl, which means she has to deny her family identity in order to follow her dreams and serve her country. The biggest enemy she confronts is prejudice.

Why I started this book:

My favorite books are the Newberry Award winners.  I have a goal of reading all of them and I have quite a few to go.  I read Fly Girl by Sherri L Smith about a year ago. (I don't think this is a Newberry winner.)

Likes:

  • The struggles that she faces and the ultimate questions she must come to terms with make it a very moving book.
  • You also learn about the dangerous flights these female pilots flew during the war without receiving any recognition from the government or status as veterans.  That has only recently been remedied by congress for the few surviving pilots from this program.

Buy: Flygirl

Rating: I give it 5 treasure chests.

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by Second Mate Embry, guest reviewer

Title: Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison
Author: Lois Lenski
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 320
Grade Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: Mary Jemison is living a normal life in the past during the years of British colonization of America until one day a man comes running by saying that the Indians are going to attack. Her dad ignores the warning and continues to plant his corn. They attack and she is separated from her family and kept captive amongst the Indians. They call her Corn Tassel for her hair. She’s tried to runaway to get back to her family but the Indians keep bringing her back. She is to become like them, but Mary doesn't want to be an Indian. It’s based on a true story.

Why I started reading this book:

It was a literacy book in my class and I read it for school as an assignment.

Likes:

  • Most books I’ve read about historical America usually have the European population capturing the Indians and I liked that this was the reverse of that scenario.
  • I enjoyed the different Indian names (Shining Star, Squirrel Woman, Red Bird, Little Turtle, Running Deer, etc.) and I thought that it was cool that their names sort of reflected the character and their personality.
  • The Indians only captured Europeans to replace dead members of their tribe.
  • The most interesting part of the book was when one of the captured Europeans was running the gauntlet! The Indians were trying to kill him and if he made it out alive he would be considered a true Indian.

Dislikes:

  • I wish it was more suspensful. I thought I would be very wrapped up in what would happen next and it was really more “Mary throwing herself a pity party, mumbling woefully about not being able to escape, and refusing to eat Indian food.” I just wanted to shake her to get her to stop moping and to start doing something.
  • Some of the language was hard to follow as it was full of older style dialogue instead of the contractions and language we use today.

Buy: Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison

Rating: 2.5 Treasure Chests

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by First Mate Keira

Title: The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
Author: Lauren Willig
Format: Trade Paperback
Page Count: 468
Grade Reading Level: Ages 15+

Summary: One heroine is researching for her dissertation on the Pink Carnation. The other heroine is living it. Both heroines are already set on the path of love, but the road is bumpy and not without potholes. Can they successfully navigate their way through to happily ever after?

Likes:

  • You can read this novel without picking up the others in the Pink Carnation series first. However, I am definitely most eager to check them out. This looks like a very promising book series.
  • Eloise and Charlotte Lansdowne, the heroines of both the present and past love stories, are a gem. Eloise was amusing and Charlotte sweet. I found a little of myself in both of them.
  • Robert, Duke of Dovedale and Charlotte’s love interest, is the type of hero who understands that knights in shining armor are important and tries to make himself into one. He doesn’t yet realize he’s already a prince among men and that is his largest appeal.
  • The vivid imagery and adept storytelling woven by Lauren Willig will suck you in and not let you up for air until the very last punctuation mark. You will find humor, romance, intrigue, kidnapping plots, secret clubs, nefarious doings, and more within these pages.

Dislikes:

  • Charlotte’s friend Penelope reminds me too much of a character from another novel which is coloring my view of her. I want to shake some sense into that girl. She’s the only fly in the ointment as far as I’m concerned.

Buy: The Temptation of the Night Jasmine

Rating: 5 Treasure Chests

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by Captain Lyaf Yarr

Title: Black Duck
Author: Janet Taylor Lisle
Format: Paperback
# of pages: 256 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: One day Ruben Hart and his best friend Jeddy are walking on the beach and stumble upon something completely unexpected that changes everything. What did they see? A dead body with a bolt stuck in him! Who shot him and why? That's what David Peterson wants to find out. He wants to be a reporter very badly and this is the only story he's got from such a small town. Befriending the older Ruben Hart will be a challenge as the old rumrunner doesn't want to open up, but David is determined.

Why I Started the Book:

I started this book because it was a school assignment and the only reason I continued reading it was because I was forced to read it. If I wasn't forced to read it I would have quit the book in a heartbeat.

Likes:

  • I liked the chapter with Tom and Viola. Jeddy and Ruben skipped school to meet Tom and discuss the body. I thought it was a great chapter, until Viola got shot! Poor Viola.

Dislikes:

  • When I was reading this book I feel asleep a few times. Sweet escape! Well that is until I woke up and then I had to keep reading.
  • I don't exactly know why I didn't like this book. I guess I didn't like the subject matter and the writing style. It's very slow in the beginning. I never did get interested in the story.
  • As I mentioned earlier the best part was the chapter with Tom and Viola. But it was ruined! Some parts I thought “This is a good part” but then it would get ruined!

Last minute thoughts: At first when I read the back of this book it sounded all mysterious and something different and new to read. I don't understand how a lot of other people in my class liked this book. I didn't at all. There were two other people in my group who were also reading it and one liked it and the the other didn't.

Buy: Black Duck

Book Rating: I give this book 1.5 treasure chests. This book was horrible!

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by Captain Lyaf Yarr

Title: Sarah Plain and Tall
Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Format: Paperback
# of pages: 58 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: When Anna and Caleb's dad invites a mail ordered bride to come and stay with them for a month all they want is for her to stay. But will their fathers' and Sarah s' differences get in the way? Or well the month she's with them be a waste of time?

Why I Started the Book:

I started this book because I was going through my bookshelf and both my sister and my mom said they really enjoyed it so I thought that I would give it a try.

Likes:

  • I liked the character Sarah. She's a very independent woman for her time. She answers an ad for a mail order bride but sets her own rules. She'll come out for a trial period and then decide!
  • I liked how Sarah was honest from the beginning about herself and her expectations. She didn't act like she was coming for the love of their father, but just to help them out. She's not afraid to get down and dirty.

Dislikes:

  • This book was good but I wish it was longer and that more happened in it.
  • I wished that the kids made something happen, like if they didn't want Sarah to be their mother then they would try to make bad things happen to her. They didn't really do anything. They were good kids and just agreed to everything and were excited and happy. Not much conflict there.

Last minute thoughts: Sarah describes herself as “Plain and Tall” but really she's not plain at all. I also searched this book on Amazon and I found out that there is a movie to this book! So I will get the movie from the library and watch it!

Buy: Sarah, Plain and Tall

Book Rating: I give this book 3.5 treasure chests!

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