Seeds of America trilogy: Chains, Forge, and Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson Atheneum, 2008-2016 I'm going to come right out and confess it: the Revolutionary War has never held much interest for me. In fact, American history as a whole and the Colonial period in particular have never quite captured my imagination the way other … Continue reading Seeds of America
The Little Ships: the Heroic Rescue at Dunkirk in World War II by Louise Borden; ill. by Michael Foreman Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2003 32 pages When Christopher Nolan's movie Dunkirk came out, my husband and I had already been waiting months to see it. He's English, with grandparents who were all personally involved … Continue reading The Little Ships
Someone by Alice McDermott Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2013 240 pages The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant Scribner, 2014 336 pages The company where I work serves the real estate industry, which has two primary trade show seasons each year: one that runs January-May and one that runs August-November. Being the marketing director, I do … Continue reading Someone and The Boston Girl
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck Dial Press, 1998 192 pages When I first started this blog, I made a few rules for myself. One of them was never to review the same author more than once. For 7 years, I've kept that rule - but now I'm about to break it. Six … Continue reading A Long Way From Chicago
The Case of the Missing Marquess (An Enola Holmes Mystery) by Nancy Springer Scholastic, 2006 224 pages I'm pretty ambivalent about books that amend the work of dead authors. Some - like the annotations and new stories released by the Tolkien estate - find their way onto my bookshelf. But I tend to give a wide … Continue reading The Case of the Missing Marquess
West of the Moon by Margi Preus Amulet Books, 2014 224 pages You might have noticed that, lately, I've mostly been reviewing books for teens and young women. It hasn't been intentional - just the natural outcome of my recent reading patterns. My daughter is 11 now, and a wide-ranging and advanced reader. We still have a "bedtime" book … Continue reading West of the Moon
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald Dial, 2014 247 pages I love literary serendipity. A couple of years ago, while my husband was out of town one week, I watched a documentary called The Rape of Europa. It was my first encounter with the story of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) military … Continue reading Under the Egg
