Book Review: A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi

A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi
Great Episodes Series

Unabridged, 7 hr. 13 min.
AudioGo
Laura Hicks (Narrator)
May 1, 2013
★★★★½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, YA

Source: Received download from the publisher as part of Audiobook Jukebox Solid Gold Reviewer Program

“Susanna desperately wants to join the circle of girls who meet every week at the parsonage. What she doesn't realize is that the girls are about to set off a torrent of false accusations leading to the imprisonment and execution of countless innocent people. Susanna faces a painful choice. Should she keep quiet and let the witch-hunt panic continue, or should she "break charity" with the group--and risk having her own family members named as witches?”

This was my second go-around with this book – the first time I read it I was in my early teens – and I remembered loving the book, but didn’t remember much about the book other than that.

As a part of her Great Episodes series, this book deals with a segment of history that was very important – in this case, the Salem witch trials.

Rinaldi chooses a protagonist who is sort of situated just outside the circle of drama. Susanna isn’t one of the girls who call out witches, she isn’t one of those who is called out, however this drama does envelop her. It was nice to see someone who wasn’t one of the “afflicted girls” for once. It gives a different side to the story – a outsiders perspective.

Unlike many YA HF novels, there isn’t a love story/triangle here. The history isn’t just used as a background event, it really digs in, but still keeps it engaging and interesting for the younger set. One of the author’s strengths is keeping the story appropriate for a young audience, but still readable/enjoyable for the adult set.

I certainly want to read more of Rinaldi’s books, and I’m hoping that more of them continue to be released on audio.

★★★★½☆

The narrator on this audio production did a great job at portraying the characters differently and making them distinct personas. For once, the narration didn’t sound ridiculous when she would voice male characters. I would listen to her narrating another novel.

Author Ann Rinaldi also has written many, many other YA historical fiction novels. You can find a complete listing of her novels on Rinaldi’s website.

My reviews of other books by this author:

• The Fifth of March

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Leafing Through Life
• The Bookworm’s Library

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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New Book Alert: Blood of Ancient Kings by V.J.O. Gardner

Blood of Ancient Kings
by V.J.O. Gardner
Paperback/Kindle, 378 pages
V&E Enterprises
ISBN: 1621540650
April 13, 2013

Book Blurb:

A medieval story of love, honor, and courage.

As a young prince grows up and advances through the military ranks, with his true identity unknown to his friends, he meets a young girl and they become friends. As the years pass their friendship blossoms into true love, knowing that she already has an arranged marriage and he being royalty most certainly has one as well, they still continue with their relationship. As their friendship progresses he must be courageous as he goes through many trials, testing his love for her, his loyalty to the kingdom, and in doing what’s right as an officer and a gentleman. The story spans multiple generations, their families deal with many problems, going from the pain of death, to the joy of birth as they feel the blood of the ancient kings running through their veins. 

The book was written with young adults in mind, however with no foul language, graphic sex or violence they are appropriate for reader’s as young as ten. The author allows the reader’s imagination to fill in between the lines with their own experience, so even parents and grandparents will enjoy them.

The story begins with King Burkhart, who is an evil tyrant of a king, holding his beloved wife and queen as she is dying from giving birth to his first born. Suddenly the door is kicked open! Colonel Langward from his own army, now fighting to take the kingdom from him, is standing there with his bloody sword in hand. As King Burkhart kneels at his conqueror’s feet hoping for death so he can join his beloved wife, his only true love, he hears the cry of his new born child! The new king has compassion and instead of killing him, allows him to live to raise his daughter but he must live among the very people he abused as king. He is given only what he can carry with him and taken to a small village. On his first night there he wakes to find the tiny house on fire. He grabs his infant and the bag with their few belongings only to find the door will not open, it’s blocked! He breaks through the door to find the enraged villagers that are burning the house, he runs trying to find a place to hide as he is pelted with rocks. He runs to a bridge over a brook and crawls under it, into to the mud to protect his infant knowing he must survive, if only for her. For the first time in his life he is truly afraid of death, but not for himself, for his daughter.

You can check out this book trailer if you want a little more inspiration:

Need some reviews?  How about Bookworm Babblings and Blog the Eclectic.

Book 2 is titled Quest of the King and Book 3 is titled Three Kingdoms of Alessandrine.

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: The Far Side of the Loch

The Far Side of the Loch by Melissa Wiley
Little House: The Martha Years Book 2

Paperback, 256 pages, Unabridged
HarperTrophy
May 31, 2000
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, YA

Source: Personal collection

“In The Far Side of Loch seven-year-old Martha is lonely and restless. The Stone House was filled with people during the holidays, but now the cousins have gone home, Martha's father is traveling, her brothers are at school, and her older sister, Grisie, is too busy brooding over her embroidery to pay any attention to Martha. Her new pet hedgehog makes things a bit more fun, and then Father comes home with some thrilling news and suddenly Martha's house is bustling with excitement

The Far Side of Loch is the second book in The Martha Years, an ongoing series about another spirited girl from America's most beloved pioneer family.”

This volume on the life Laura Ingalls Wilder’s great grandmother takes place over the course of a 2 week period when Martha’s cousins come to stay for a visit. Martha and her cousin, Rachel, are foils of each other; while Martha is a free spirit and loves to have fun and get dirty, Rachel is the perfect little lady, shy, quite and ever so clean. As you might imagine, these differences cause a great amount of drama over the 2 weeks.

There are several great themes in this book that children can relate to. One of the major events is that the mothers of all the girls are over helping get a new house ready to be moved into and the girls are all left at home. So there is the feeling of freedom and fun at first but ultimately missing their mothers by the end. Martha feels left out in this novel because she is the only one of her family members to not have seen this new house and is not told what is going on. Both of these issues are resolved by the end of the book.

As in the first book, we are treated to more traditional Scottish poems, stories, and songs as well as history of the area. We also get a glimpse at the city of Edinburg when Father comes back from the city and tells stories. I think that my favorite parts of the book are the fairytales because I have never heard anything like them before.

I don’t think I mentioned it in my review of Little House in the Highlands but there are beautiful hand drawings throughout the books. Usually they are at chapter beginnings but sometimes they are where something important begins. These images are very accurate to the descriptions of the happenings in the books, so I would imagine that this time the illustrator might have read from the book first.

This book is less of an introduction than Little House in the Highlands was and we get to spend more time learning about Martha and seeing her have fun and of course get into a little mischief. Children will have fun reading this book – and I think boys might too.

Melissa Wiley also has written the continuation of Martha’s story in Little House in the Highlands (book 1), Down to the Bonny Glen (book 3) and Beyond the Heather Hills (book 4) as well as the entire Charlotte Years series. You can visit Wiley’s website or blog for additional information about the book.

Please be aware that this series is currently out of print but can often be found on Ebay or Half.com - but you have to look often because they can be exorbitantly priced.  There was also an abridged version of many of these books released.  I would advise trying to check your local libraries for these books.

My other reviews of books by this author:

• Little House in the Highlands

Other reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• My Domestic Church

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847
by Kristiana Gregory
Dear America Diary Series
Unabridged, 3 hr. 30 min.
Scholastic
Barbara Rosenblat and Stina Neilson (Narrator)
August 2009
★★★★½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Source: Downloaded the audio from my local library

“After the death of her two sisters, thirteen-year-old Hattie and her family plan for a fresh start. They sell their farm in Missouri and journey along the Oregon Trail toward Oregon City. At first the adventure is exciting, but as the days, weeks, and months pass, Hattie realizes what a dangerous trip it is. As they cross the prairies, news of the fate of the Donner party reaches them, and death, disease, weather, and the terrain take a terrible toll on their traveling party. The Campbells lose neighbors and friends until they almost cannot bear to continue. Yet Hattie and her family must persevere or risk the same misfortune. Hattie`s diary chronicles the hardships of such a harrowing journey, but also captures the friendships and celebrations of life that keep hope alive.”

I think that this will live on as one of my favorite books in this extensive series. It brought back all of my childhood memories of playing the very first Oregon Trail game! Do you remember fording the Blue River, oxen dying, eating poisonous plants, breaking an axle? I do! All that and much more takes place in the diary of Hattie Campbell.

One of the great strengths of this book is the emotions that are evoked. Westward travel was certainly not easy. There were moments of terror, sadness, happiness, and hope – they were all here. I also thought that they played the in-between world of not quite a child and not quite an adult very well. It felt real when she didn’t fully understand some of the decisions being made and she and she didn’t have that frustrating quality to knowing all even though she is only 13.

I also really liked how historical events were peppered through the diary but not fully explained. It wouldn’t be normal for someone to go on and on about the back story of the Donner party, but that event would certainly have made it into their diaries and affected some of the choices that they made. Rest assured though, there is a lengthy historical note at the end where all of these mentioned historical events are more thoroughly explained.

★★★★★

Another well narrated outing in the series. Again they selected a young sounding voice actress who fit the character role. She also evoked the highly emotional scenes well.

Kristiana Gregory also has written several other books in the Dear America series.  You can visit the Scholastic website for additional information about the book and activities to do with your children and recipes to make.

My other reviews of books in this series:

• The Winter of Red Snow (Valley Forge Diary) 
• My Secret War (WWII Home Front Diary)
• I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly (Diary of a Freed Girl)

Other reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Ana Mardoll’s Ramblings
• Rebecca’s Book Blog

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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TV Show Review: The Royal Diaries Elizabeth I

The Royal Diaries: Elizabeth I – Red Rose of the House of Tudor

Scholastic Productions

30 Mins

November 4, 2000

HBO and Scholastic (an odd partnership if there ever was one) partnered up to create three ½ hour episodes based on the popular Royal Diaries series. This was the second episode in the series. This episode is based on the book Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor.

If you have read the books, you know they are written as diaries – the episodes are set up the same way. Elizabeth is narrating the story and there are segments where she is shown writing in her diary. I thought this was one good way of tying the book to the episode. I did read the original book the episode is based on but it was so long ago I don’t know how closely they stayed to it. I do intend to reread the series at some point.

We get to see how Elizabeth deals with trying to live outside of the shadow of Anne Boleyn. We also get to see her opinion on the many wives of Henry VIII. She goes through the age old, “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” song, but it was so funny. The relationship between her and Princess Mary is super antagonistic. The episode certainly makes it out that Mary = bad and Elizabeth = good. And of course there is a young Robin Dudley following Elizabeth around like a lost puppy.

This would be a fun show for kids to watch. This episode features the youngest cast, the characters are right around 10 years old. The history is not at too high of a level for young adults to grasp and there are funny, kid focused events too – like searching for the ghost of Katherine Howard.

As this is only a half hour episode, a very limited story is shown – primarily the events right before the death of Henry and the attempt to have Katherine Parr done in. There is a voiceover at the end that tells what happened to Mary, Elizabeth, Edward and Katherine Parr. I thought the acting was good, the scenery was well done and would certainly pass for a child – hard core history enthusiasts might find many faults but as an introductory tool I think it was well done.

You can watch the entire episode on Youtube, which I have linked below for your viewing pleasure.

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley

Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley

Little House: The Martha Years Book 1

Paperback, 271 pages, Unabridged

HarperTrophy

February 1999
★★★★½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, YA

Source: Personal collection

“In Little House in the Highlands, we meet Martha Morse, a spirited six-year-old Scottish girl who will grow to be the great-grandmother of American pioneer and writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder. But, as a child, Martha’s main concern is how to cope with her life as a laird’s daughter. Martha has a restless spirit and would rather be running barefoot through the fields of heather and listening to magical tales about fairies and other Wee Folk than learning to sew like a proper young lady. 

Sprinkled with 18th-century Scottish vocabulary and filled with details of everyday life, Martha’s story will transport you to a time and place when fairies were rumored to roam the hills of Scotland and ever-curious little girls hoped to catch glimpses of them..”

This companion series to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series is perfect for young girls or those who are still young at heart. The Marta Years is a four book series covering the young years of Martha Morse, Laura’s great grandmother, in her home in Scotland. I would style this as an introduction into the series. We really get to meet Martha, her family, and are introduced to the way of life in Scotland in the 1770’s.

Martha is a spirited young girl. She would rather play outside with the boys and get dirty than stay inside practicing sewing, embroidering etc. She wants to go to school and grow up faster so that she can be like her 15 year old sister. Martha’s character is something that many young children, especially today, can relate to at least to some extent. I loved seeing the world from her point of view.

Wiley also does a fantastic job of interweaving the culture and customs of the Scots into this YA novel. We learn about tales children were told, hear mythology about fairies, brownies and magic. The book leads up to the big celebration of Hogmanay and we get involved in all of the details from how food is prepared to the games and gifts given. The language used when the characters speak to each other evokes the feel of Scottish while still being words that a young reader would be able to grasp and understand. She also includes traditional Scottish terms, for example, haggis, and is always careful to explain these terms.

For a young reader this book has just enough excitement and adventure to keep them entertained while still teaching them about the Scottish culture and building up to the traditional Little House series. For an adult reader the pages will fly by and you will be done before you know it – but it is still quite an enjoyable read!

Melissa Wiley also has written the continuation of Martha’s story in The Far Side of the Loch (book 2), Down to the Bonny Glen (book 3) and Beyond the Heather Hills (book 4) as well as the entire Charlotte Years series. You can visit Wiley’s website or blog for additional information about the book.

Please be aware that this series is currently out of print but can often be found on Ebay or Half.com - but you have to look often because they can be exorbitantly priced.  There was also an abridged version of many of these books released.  I would advise trying to check your local libraries for these books.

My other review of books by this author:

• The Far Side of the Loch

Other reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• My Domestic Church         

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

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