Review: A Madness So Discreet

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love historical fiction that doesn't put romance as a center plot line. LOVE IT.

Mindy McGinnis has put her main character Grace into a terrible situation: she's in a mental asylum, placed there by her family because of the fact that she's been found pregnant. No one can know that she's pregnant, it would be terrible for the family because it would uncover secrets that would ruin them all. And Grace hasn't spoken since. While there she meets a strange doctor who recognizes her intelligence and schemes to take her out of there by pretending he botched a procedure on her and they will need to hide that from her affluent and very powerful father. He takes her away to a new asylum, one that is run with dignity and care. Although Grace must continue to hide her voice, she accompanies the doctor as he visits crime scenes in an attempt to use the new science of criminal psychology. Very soon, they discover that there is a serial killer in their midst.

We meet a number of characters throughout the book who live in the asylum. Some truly do have mental health disorders, but others do not. Most are women who are put there by husbands or fathers simply to get them out of the way. Some are ill, but mentally ill, and so they are committed so their family members do not have to deal with them. The conditions at the first place Grace is living in are deplorable. There is a lack of food, lack of medical care, and patients would often be beaten or hit. Some of them were locked in cellars for long periods of time. Unfortunately, this is what many asylums were like. The one in which Grace travels to was much nicer. Patients were treated with respect and care. It is a comparison that Grace makes often during her time there.

A Madness So Discreet is about many things, but I believe it is very much about how women have been viewed in the past. Not only are we shown multiple women who have been sent to live in asylums not because they needed help, but because they were different, needed medical attention, or were defiant, but the serial killer is targeting young women--mostly prostitutes. As you read the Dr.'s and Grace's surmising about the killer and his or her motives, you can see this played out even more.

The best part, is that there is no romance. There is no love interest. It truly is about Grace. I loved this book and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books! I think I might try outThe Female of the Species.

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Review: The War that Saved My Life

The War that Saved My Life
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Read by: Jayne Entwistle
Listening Library, 2015
Genre: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Family,
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Ada lives in London with her mother and younger brother Jamie.  She isn't allowed to leave her apartment because her mother is too ashamed for people to see Ada and her twisted foot.  Ada must sit at the window and watch her brother play.  When Jamie comes home from school and announces that all the children are going to the school the next day and the teachers are taking them out of the city because of the coming war, Ada's mother laughs and tells them they aren't going--especially not Ada.  But Ada makes sure that she and Jamie go, traveling out of London to the country where families await to take in children until the threat of war and bombs has passed.  Jamie and Ada end up Susan, who has no interest in children and doesn't have any idea what to do with them.  Grieving for a lost friend, Susan does her best for Ada and Jamie, taking Ada to a doctor for the first time and giving both her and Jamie a safe place.  For the first time, Ada realizes that she might have more to give back than she ever knew before, but what will happen when their mother comes to collect them? If she comes to collect them.

This was a wonderful performance by Jayne Entwistle that really brought all the characters to life.   Ada is strong and smart and although she has never been to school before, she can figure things out pretty quickly and read people.  She understands how the world works even though her first ten years were spent away from the rest of the world.  It doesn't take her very long to realize that her mother's claims that she was stupid and unable to attend school were wrong.  It also doesn't take her very long to realize that although Susan is being nice to them, she doesn't have to be nice to them and can change her mind at any minute.

A major part of this story is Ada's discovery of horses and riding.  Susan owns a pony, left there by her recently departed friend and Ada teaches herself how to ride the horse, making friends with neighbors who give her more help and advice in caring for her new horse.  It's this relationship that allows Ada to grow the most.

I loved that Ada, someone who is physically disabled, shows how strong and capable she is.  She isn't completely aware of this at first, but when she makes up her mind to leave and to learn to ride the horse, it comes through.  This is a point the author is making and Ada is never seen as someone is weak (even at the beginning when she isn't allowed to leave her apartment).

Susan's character is a bit difficult to figure out.  When we first meet her, she is being forced to take in Ada and Jamie.  It reminded me a bit of Bedknobs and Broomsticks when Angela Lansbury is indignant about taking in Carrie and Paul.  She does it, but doesn't like and is somewhat vocal about it. Susan is not magical, of course, but it reminded me of this.  Perhaps because it has the same setting where children were evacuated from cities during World War II but I continued to picture Susan as Angela Lansbury.

Susan seems to battle with bouts of depression that she sinks into less and less as the story progresses and her relationship with Ada and Jamie grows.  It's difficult to understand why she seems like such an outsider in her town when we first meet her--whether it's her own choice after Becky, her friend and roommate, died, or if there was more to it.  Becky was so often referred to, but we never really found out more about her.  Neighbors referred to her as the "other one" or the "nice one," making it seem like they were outsiders even before.  I assumed they were partners and their relationship was quietly looked down upon, leaving Susan to feel ostracized by her community.  It's never explained, though, and I wanted to know more about Becky.  I wanted Susan to tell Ada and Jamie stories about her--whatever their relationship to one another was--and to feel that she had come to terms with Becky's death.  That never happened, though.

This is a great book for middle school reader and adults alike.  It's about family--not the family you're born with, but the family you find along the way.  It's about becoming yourself and accepting who you are.  I highly recommend it!

Book Review: The Secret Healer

The Secret Healer
Ellin Carsta
Terry Laster (Translator)
AmazonCrossing, 2016
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Amazon Lender Library
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

The Secret Healer is a historical fiction novel set in the 14th or 15th century--I honestly can't remember when.  The main character, Madlen, is a young girl training to be a midwife, but her mentor dies tragically before she can be trained and Madlen is devastated.  However she goes to help a rich woman whose pregnancy is in danger, but the baby has already been lost and Madlen must do what she can to save the mother.  It isn't long before she is charged, setting off a chain of events that causes Madlen to flee her home and seek shelter with an aunt she has never seen before. It isn't long before she's helping others who need help and the official Inquisitor is looking for her.  All Madlen wants is to help others, but instead she finds herself being hunted down by her society because she is a woman.

This story was incredibly difficult to believe in any way.  First of all, the characters are never fully developed--not even Madlen.  There is a lot of quick jumping over parts or skimming through a section, going in and out of points of view, and focusing on miniscule characters or events that you expect to come back but never do.  This could be in part because it's a translation, but I'm not sure because I feel like I should be able to see the characters develop and understand them more, but I don't.  They go from one idea and suddenly switch to the opposite with not explanation or development towards that change.

Also, Madlen and her aunt are given many liberties.  Her aunt lives alone, as a widow, and makes her own money.  This is perfectly acceptable, even though she has been a widow for many years and would most likely have been shunned or not allowed to work--even at being a seamstress--without her husband.  She has an awful lot of power for a woman at this time.  I would have guessed that this may have made more sense in the 1800s or early 1900s, except for the fact that Madlen is being persecuted for cohorting with the devil due to her knowledge of healing.

I did finish this book, but there was a lot of skimming towards the end.  It ends exactly as you would guess a fluffy read would.  If you're looking for a historical fiction, this one would probably be a bit disappointing because it isn't at all believable.  There is some romance, but it was rushed, just as the rest of the novel was. Maybe in German it would read differently, but I'm not sure.

Book Review: The Forbidden Orchid

The Forbidden Orchid
Sharon Biggs Waller
Viking, 2016
Genre: historical, YA, romance
Source: I won this copy from Brittany at Please Feed the Bookworm
Rating: 3 out of 5

~What It's About~

When Elodie's adventuring father fails to return to their home after his latest disastrous trip to acquire a rare orchid for his employer, Elodie finds herself trying to keep her family together.  Her mother has just had another baby and has fallen into a depression, the local Deacon is paying quite a bit attention to their family, and a man has come looking for her father, demanding a debt be paid. In 1860s England, Elodie has little say in what happens to her or her family.  She convinces her father that he must return to China to search gather the orchids his employer desires so that their family will be out of financial danger.  It doesn't take her very long to realize that her father will need her help, but will he accept it?  With the help of a new friend, Elodie will travel to China and help her father--whether he will allow it or not.  She knows what is expected of her in society, but she's not yet willing to bow to those expectations--not while her family's livelihood is at stake.

~The Good~

I liked Elodie a lot.  She's stuck in 1861 with a bunch of men telling her what to think and what's good for her, and she's smart enough to realize that she knows more than they do.  The best part is that she doesn't just keep her mouth shut--sometimes she attempts to do so, but usually she just tells them what she thinks in as polite a way as possible.  While her father is away, her mother is sick and Elodie is in charge.  She's keeping her younger sisters occupied, finding time to study her flowers in her little green house, and searching for answers about her father and why he refuses to come home to them.  When she finally finds him, he is broken and she realizes how much more she will have to take on and this excites her.  She wants to travel and to ride on a ship and see China and the orchids in their natural habitat.  Elodie longs to be free and adventuring, away from men who warn her against looking at orchids due their impropriety.  She is strong and able and manages to get herself on board a ship and stow away for weeks until the captain finds out.  

The Forbidden Orchid is entrenched in historical events about which I know very little.  Part of this book takes place in China immediately after The Second Opium War, and Elodie's father had been in China during the war while searching for orchids.  I also enjoyed the historical notes at the end of the novel that gave more information on various events and settings in which Elodie and other characters found themselves.
      

~The Not-So-Good~

I thought there was going to be more adventure, but the first half of the book was Elodie at home dealing with belittling men, or Elodie finding her father and helping him prepare for his journey.  I was waiting and waiting for her to just get on the boat already, but man it took forever.  When she finally did find herself on the boat, I felt like things had finally started to move and the story was beginning.  I wish that it had gone faster or that we started already there. I felt like there was a lot more I would have liked to see in the end that wasn't given as much time as her home life in the beginning. 

~Final Thoughts~

The Forbidden Orchid is a great historical romance.  Elodie is a strong female voice with opinions and ideas of her--ahead of her time.  She is impressive and likeable and makes it easy to want to find out her story--even if you have to wait awhile to truly get into it.  I enjoyed it.

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Sunday Status

Sunday Status is a weekly (ish) post where I let you know what I'm reading and what I'm thinking about it as I go along.

~At Home~

The Forbidden Orchid

Sharon Biggs Waller

Viking, 2016

Source: I won this copy from Brittany at Please Feed the Bookworm

Genre: historical fiction, young adult

I'm not too far in, just about 70 pages or so, but I'm enjoying this book.  Set in the 1860s, Elodie's father gets paid to travel to far off places in search of rare and expensive plants and flowers.  But now he hasn't come home. Something terrible happened to him on his last trip and although they know he is okay, Elodie and her family have not heard from him.  The last thing he ever gave them was an orchid, beautiful and enticing, but also not appropriate for a young woman to set her eyes on and now Elodie is in danger of losing it--her one last connection to her father.  I don't know what happens next, but I do know (based on the Goodreads synopsis) that she will travel to China to help her father find another rare flower.  I really like Elodie so far and have already laughed out loud a few times at her wit and her fire.  She's smart and realizes that the men of her time are not as smart as she is, but she's being forced to play dumb and innocent in order to help her family and keep them together.  But at times it all just slips out.  

~At School~

Since You've Been Gone

by Morgan Matson

Simon & Schuster, 2014

Source: purchased

Genre: realistic fiction, young adult, friendship

Where have I been?  I'm absolutely loving this book.  I was going to bring it home and try to finish it this weekend, but I forgot it as school!  ARGH!  I am loving how the main character Emily is so anxious.  Okay, no that came out wrong.  I don't love that she's anxious--I don't wish that on a person.  What I love is that I can completely and totally connect to her anxiety.  Emily barely speaks to others because she's so shy, and the thoughts that run through her head during a conversation (which are painful most of the time) could have been my inner monologue as a high schooler and college student.  And even now, when I'm 34.  I hope my conversations aren't as painful as hers, but the inner monologue of "What in the world did I just say?" is dead on.  

I'm loving this book.  Can't wait to finish it this week!

Goodreads synopsis

~Listening To~

Orbiting Jupiter
Gary D. Schmidt
Narrator: Christopher Gebauer
Recorded Books, 2015
Source: purchased
Genre: realistic fiction, young adult, family

Audiobooks usually take me a bit longer to get through because I save them for when I walk outside, but I've been doing a lot of walking as of late due to the lovely weather.  Thank goodness because I haven't had to wait too long to find out what's going on with Jack and Joseph.  Jack's family has decided to foster an 8th grade boy named Joseph, and for sixth grader Jack, this is a big change for him.  He lives on an organic farm and has always been an only child.  He's a good kid.  No one would say that for Joseph, who was kicked out of his first home for trying to kill a teacher after he took some drugs, got in many fights in his detention center, and is the father of a little girl named Jupiter.  And the way most adults treat Joseph is that he's already so bad that he doesn't deserve their time.  MOST adults.  There are some absolutely wonderful adults that come into Joseph's life when he moves with Jack's family, most importantly Jack's parents.

I only have an hour left of this audio and it's breaking my heart.  I have so many thoughts and feelings about it already and it's only building more and more.  I'll have to save more of my thoughts and feelings for when I write a review.  Absolutely heartbreaking.

Goodreads synopsis

Book Review: Dark Days Club

Dark Days Club
Alison Goodman
Viking Books for Young Readers, 2016
Genre: Historical Fiction/Fantasy
Source: I won this ARC copy from Brittany at Please Feed the Bookworm
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

~What It's About~

Set in the Regency period of London, in 1812, Lady Helen Wrexhall is preparing for her debut ball at eighteen years of age.  Both parents died when she was young under mysterious circumstances that has left a stain on the family name, but with her uncle's strict code of propriety and her aunt's doting, they hope that all memories of Helen's mother and her traitorous ways have been erased.  At her showing to the Queen of England, though, Helen receives a most mysterious message from Her Majesty about her mother, sending her into a world of intrigue, demons, and the dashingly handsome and dangerous Lord Carlston.  Helen is only just beginning to realize what an important role she has to play, but she'll have to figure out a way to make that happen within the confines of an elite society eager to play up any scandal they can.

~The Good~

 The characters were really well done and drew me in.  Lady Helen Wrexhall is a strong female character, forced to live in a restricted environment.  At night she sneaks down to her uncle's library to pour through his many books that are not appropriate for the eyes and minds of women.  She feels a strong connection to her mother and sneaks her mother's miniature with her when she leaves, even though it is forbidden.  Never before has Helen willingly stepped outside of the confines of propriety to get what she wants, but now she's being forced to do so.

Lord Carlston has evil swarming around him, literally.  Just a few years ago he was discovered with his young wife, dead.  Although never charged with the murder, society has shunned him, but he's back in London and is intent on meeting with Lady Helen.  Although he is forbidden to Helen, due to the scandal on his name, she is drawn to him and the information he could provide her about her mother.

There was so much happening that this incredibly long book only took me about 5 days because I just needed to find out what happened!  As soon as she starts to discover the truth behind her mother's death and what she is meant to do, everything begins to build.  You don't know who you can trust.  Just as Lady Helen is busy trying to determine who around her is a demon, the reader is also trying to decide who to trust.  You're not sure, although you think you know, and then something new is revealed.  I questioned everyone she knew.  Everyone.

The subtle references of feminism and the demands placed on women to behave a certain way or else be considered ruined were woven throughout the story.  It began with a friend of Helen's going missing, but being found days later with a man, now dead.  Helen is no longer allowed to speak to her because she is ruined and it is her own fault that this had happened--not the man who led to this scandal.  Helen's uncle often refers to passing her off to her future husband (whoever that may be) so that he no longer has to be in charge of her, but her husband can do so.  Her uncle has complete control over her finances until she is somewhere in her 20's or she is married, which means her husband is then in charge of the money.  Enter Lord Carlston who offers her a way to be so much more than just the wife and mother in elite society, but to have a real influence on her world.  He shows her that her own mother was much more than everyone believed.  However, even the choices he gives her are manipulated by him and the Dark Days Club, putting women in the lesser roles because they are women.

~The Not-So-Good~

The only negative thing I have to say is that the beginning was slow getting started.  Helen has not yet discovered the truth of her past and who she truly is and she's focused more on the social gatherings about which ladies of her station are concerned.  I was desperately waiting for the action to begin--don't worry it does.  It took about a hundred pages or so to get it started, but the beginning is still good.

~Final Thoughts~

Absolutely amazing!  I don't often give books a 5 star rating, but I felt it was well-deserved here. The action and adventure coupled with the attempt to remain within the acceptable confines of propriety led to a thrilling story. Lady Helen was appropriately concerned about doing what she felt was right for both herself and the world and for her family, which led to quite a lot of inner turmoil.  The Dark Days Club was a fun read and I'm anxious to read the next book about Lady Helen and her adventures.

If you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and who doesn't?) or Jane Austen, then you'll love this book!

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Character Spotlight: Jo Montfort from These Shallow Graves

In honor of publication day for These Shallow Graves, I am doing a Character Spotlight on the main character Jo Montfort. I absolutely loved this book and if you'd like to read my review, check it out here.



Josephine "Jo" Montfort

These Shallow Graves

Jennifer Donnelly

Josephine Montfort lives in New York in the late 1800s, a member of the elite upper class.  Her life has been planned out for her--a life of ease, married to the most eligible bachelor, and having babies.  When Jo's father dies unexpectedly in an accident, she isn't able to accept that it was a freak accident and decides to challenge what she's been told.  With the help of Eddie, a young reporter who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, Jo begins to peel away the layers of her perfect life and discover the truth behind her father's death.

Jo is torn throughout most of the novel.  She's independent, interested in journalism, and wants to change the world.  When we first meet her she has written an article exposing the life of the girls who work in a factory close to her school and is planning a way to publish it in her school paper.  She has read Nellie Bly's expose of the treatment of the mentally ill and Jo has taken this to heart.  Despite Jo’s upbringing in an elitist society that focuses on where a person’s money comes from and who their ancestors are, Jo understands that there are injustices in her world that people should know about.  She knows that everyone has a story and she wants to tell the stories of girls working in factories, orphans who are dependent on a life of crime, and girls who are sold to madames to work in brothels. This is what she wants to do, but it's also something that is impossible for her to do.

Ladies of her station do not write for papers, and she is meant to marry into one of the richest and most prestigious families, a mirror of her own.  It's what's expected and despite what Jo wants, she wants her family to be happy as well. Because Jo cares deeply for her family.  We see this struggle throughout the story.  Right away, when Jo's father is dead, she knows it wasn't an accident.  There is no way her father would have accidently shot himself while cleaning his gun, however she can't voice this opinion because she should not have an opinion.  She has to look for the truth in secret and with the help of Eddie, a reporter for the paper her family owns. With her father dead, Jo can’t bring any more hardship on her mother.  She’s concerned about her uncle who was so close to her father and must figure out the best way to reveal to him what she’s learned.  

As Jo embarks on her journey, her world and the part of New York she is not supposed to know are set up against one another.  She sneaks out at night to visit Eddie.  They go to houses of ill repute, break into buildings, sneak around the wharf in the dead of night, befriend criminals.  When she comes home, she attends teas and church and other events that are befitting of a young girl in mourning while her mother plans out how they will ensure Bram Aldrich asks for her hand in marriage. Jo longs for the excitement of Eddie's world, and even more the freedom to make her own choices and make a real difference.  To do that means breaking her family's hearts, and she's not sure if she has that in her.

Jo is clueless at times and this is what makes her so annoying.  She has good intentions, but she’s still very focuses on herself and how all of this will affect her--not others who aren’t a part of her inner circle.  Eddie is often snapping at her for saying something rude and demeaning before Jo realizes how awful it is that she said it.  She tries to give advice to a girl her age who is about to be sold to a madame, but she has no idea what kind of life this girl lives.  This is where I found myself rolling my eyes at her and screaming, “You idiot!” Jo is in no way perfect, but she’s trying.  She just has to make a choice between finding out the truth and keeping herself and her family out of the spotlight.

Image Source: Goodreads

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Book Review: These Shallow Graves

These Shallow Graves

Jennifer Donnelly

Random House Delacorte, 2015

Source: ARC through Netgalley
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

*I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Josephine Montfort lives in New York in the late 1800s, a member of the elite upper class.  Her life has been planned out for her--a life of ease, married to the most eligible bachelor, and having babies.  When Jo's father dies unexpectedly in an accident, she isn't able to accept that it was a freak accident and decides to challenge what she's been told.  With the help of Eddie, a young reporter who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, Jo begins to peel away the layers of her perfect life and discover the truth behind her father's death.

Jo is torn throughout most of the novel.  She's independent, interested in journalism, and wants to change the world.  She has read Nellie Bly's expose of the treatment of the mentally ill and Jo has taken this to heart.  This is what she wants to do, but it's also something that is impossible for her to do. Ladies of her station do not write for papers, and marrying Abraham Aldrich means she is marrying into one of the richest and most prestigious families, a mirror of her own.  It's what's expected and despite what Jo wants, she wants her family to be happy as well.

We see this struggle throughout the story.  Right away, when Jo's father is dead, she knows it wasn't an accident.  There is no way her father would have accidently shot himself while cleaning his gun, however she can't voice this opinion because she should not have an opinion.  She has to look for the truth in secret and with the help of Eddie, a reporter for the paper her family owns.

Eddie is set up as the opposite to Bram.  He's brash, outspoken, and unknown.  He is annoyed by Jo's helplessness at times (which only spurns her on to make more decisions that may not be in her best interest).  I like Eddie, but he still angered me, and sometimes more than Bram.  Maybe it's because I was able to get to know Eddie more than Bram, but it's also because even though he's supposed to represent some form of freedom for Jo, Eddie still treats her like she can't do anything.  He tells her again and again and again that she can't come along with him on any investigative trips because they're too dangerous for her.  He won't let her.  It's true that it's dangerous, but mostly because she's so clueless that she'll get herself in trouble by saying the wrong thing.

These Shallow Graves is a little slow at the beginning. Jo sneaks out with Eddie, they learn something new, Jo is shocked and contemplates what this means for her family and her life and it starts over again.  But don’t let that stop you. Suddenly you're realizing what Jo hasn't yet and you must find out immediately how it all turns out and what other information will be revealed.  I figured some things out pretty quickly--I don't think it was too difficult t--but this mystery is more intricate than what you expect at first and as more and more is revealed you'll be tweaking your assumptions until you find out the truth.

I really enjoyed These Shallow Graves.  Books that are written in the Victorian age and explore women's roles and the repression of women--no matter what their class--are interesting to me.  I thought that Jennifer Donnelly's exploration of this was well done as she attempted to balance it between not only girls in Jo's social world, but those of criminals, and poor working girls.  There is a definite connection being made between the social classes.  At times it highlights the similarities and at other times how utterly different their worlds could be.  I also appreciated how clueless Jo was, and even more so her friends and family were, about the realities of the opposite side of life.

These Shallow Graves is available on October 27th.  Preorder it today and you can get all cozy with a great mystery this Halloween weekend!

Check back on the 27th for a more detailed look at Jo in my Character Spotlight!

Image Source: Goodreads 

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Book Review: The Hired Girl

The Hired Girl

Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick Press, 2015
Source: e-galley from Netgalley

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Set in 1911, Joan's father has taken the fourteen year old girl out of school and burned her books so that she will work harder on the farm for him.  Joan has other ideas, though, and runs away to become a hired girl in Baltimore.  She's pretty clueless about the world, but has good intentions, despite her many mistakes as a parlor maid in the Rosenbach's house.  Told in the form of a diary, Joan chronicles her struggles to better herself in a world she is just beginning to understand.

Joan's story is heartbreaking during the first section as you see the way her father treats her and how much she loves and adores her teacher because of the attention she bestows on her.  It's probably the only positive attention she has received since her mother died and her father passed all the work on to her.  Even after he pulls her out of school, Joan tries to stay positive and figure out a way to make herself better and to find time to read her books.  When it becomes obvious that her father will never allow her to grow and learn, she realizes that she must leave and runs away.

At this point, the story picks up a bit, but it also becomes apparent how very naive Joan is.  Working for a Jewish family in the big city, Joan is exposed to new ideas and customs.  I love how open-minded she is, despite the fact that the priest of her local church attempts to get her to leave the family with whom she is working.  Unfortunately, Joan's naivety becomes more and more annoying and it almost seems as if she fails to grow up sometimes.

Overall, the story moved a bit slowly for me.  Sometimes, the fact that it was written as a diary tended to make it seem slower because I was learning all this after the fact.  I prefer stories in which events are happening, rather than a recap of them.  The end does pick up as it seems that Joan starts making one bad decision after another and you want to make sure that she's okay.  The problem is that those bad decisions are very aggravating for the reader because Joan is so naive and everyone around her, even younger characters, are more aware than she is.

I think that if you enjoy historical fiction, you would like this look into the life a girl who just wanted to escape her father's tyrannical rule at the family farm and become a teacher.

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Prisoner B-3087

Based on the true story of Jack Gruener, Alan Gratz has created a fictional account of Jack’s time spent in ten different concentration camps during the Holocaust.  His depictions of the ghettos, train cars, camp barracks, death marches, torture, and death are very honest.  He has described horrid conditions that no human should have to witness, let alone live through, without sensationalism. 

Yanek Gruener is a Jewish boy growing up in Poland in the 1930’s when the Nazis take over.  Under their rule his life changes dramatically as he undergoes one tragedy after another.  Although he manages to survive ten concentration camps and two death marches, Yanek is not always optimistic.  After a while, the death he sees is just commonplace.  He is terrified of it, determined not let it take him, but accepts it because there is no other option.  At times he wonders if it is better to dead. 

I appreciated how Yanek was portrayed.  Written in a first person narrative, it allows the reader to enter the story a little more, but you’re still kept at bay with the very clipped style of writing.  At the end, after he and his fellow survivors have been rescued by American soldiers, Yanek notes that “They couldn’t understand our tears, couldn’t know how amazing such a simple meal was to us….We could describe it.  Describe in every detail the horrors of the camps and the way we were treated.  But no one who had not been there would ever truly understand (251).”   

One Came Home by Amy Timberlake

This novel starts out with a funeral and the untimely death of the narrator’s sister.  Georgie Burkhardt doesn’t believe that her sister is dead, though, and she’s determined to find out the truth—with or without help.  Unluckily, help comes in the form of Billy McCabe, her sister’s former beau.  Set in 1871 in the town of Placid, Wisconsin during a great pigeon nesting that drives through Georgie’s town, sending the town into chaos.  Just like those wild pigeons are a force as they descend on Placid and the surrounding area, Georgie pushes along this story so that you’re there with her, determined to find her sister Agatha. 

Georgie reveals the past to us, the reason for Agatha’s departure, her relationships, and her personality through a series of flashbacks that help us understand, even before Georgie does, how her sister most likely died.  Even so, when Georgie finally does come around, I was suddenly on the other side.  No, she might still be there.  Georgie lost hope, but I kept it for her.  I thought it beautiful how Amy Timberlake made this happen.  It’s almost as if Georgie’s convincing has worked, but not for herself. 

Georgie’s quest to find the truth allows her to learn much about her sister, feeling again close to her, as well as angry at her for putting them all in this situation.  Moreover, she’s able to learn about herself, questioning what she has always known as the truth, and learning actual truths that she never wanted to know. 

I found myself pulled into this story from the get go.  Georgie is an easy character to follow.  She doesn’t demand that you burrow in and accept what she’s saying.  She’s likable, even though she does some unlikeable things.  My only real issue with this book is that I had a hard time really believing that Georgie belonged in this time period.  I can’t pinpoint what caused this feeling, but Georgie seemed like a more modern girl and belonged in more modern times.  It wasn’t due to her abilities, which were not skills that would have been encouraged in a young girl in the late 1800s, but in her voice.  Something about the way she spoke was too modern.  It may have even been too sheltered for a girl living in this growing town, learning to shoot, and traipsing through the woods.  I almost felt like she should have been more mature than she was due to this time period.  Needless to say, it took me out of the space every now and then.

This is a great read and I recommend it for readers who enjoy an adventure.  Georgie definitely has her fair share of adventure in this quest for the truth.  If you really like historical fiction, this may or may not be for you, depending on if you can believe that she really belongs in this time period.

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko

Ooops!!  I posted earlier this week that I was reading Al Capone Does My Homework.  Little did I know that it's the 3rd book and not the 2nd.  I did figure this out and switched book about one page in.  

Al Capone Shines My Shoes

by Gennifer Choldenko

Dial Books for Young Readers

2009

How does living on Alcatraz with Al Capone and 277 of America’s worst criminals sound to you?  That’s where Moose Flanagan lives with his family, along with the other guards and their families.  In Gennifer Choldenko’s second novel about Moose, Al Capone Shine My Shoes, our main character is in a real fix.  In the first novel, Moose asked for help getting his sister Natalie into a special school.  Al has done that, and now it’s Moose’s turn to pay up.

Choldenko connects the events from Al Capone Does My Shirts seamlessly, without a “last time on Alcatraz…” feeling.  While Moose is dealing with this big favor that Al Capone wants from him, he’s also dealing with friends.  Everyone likes Moose—right? Not always.  Right now, it seems like everyone is upset with him.  When his older sister Natalie comes home for a visit, everything becomes even more complicated.  Lots of adventures ensue as Moose tries to do the right thing and still keep everyone happy.  He’ll learn, though, that trying to make everyone happy doesn’t always work.

I like the pressure that Choldenko puts Moose under.  It makes him uncomfortable as he struggles to be a good person and to deal with the false ideas other have of him.  He is a good kid, but finds himself in predicaments with his friends on a regular basis.  Most of the problems he finds himself in revolve around Al Capone and the fascination they all seem to have with the charismatic prisoner who sends messages to Moose through the laundry.

Weaving historical facts with her own imagination, Choldenko has created a believable space for the Alcatraz kids to grow up in.  She has created characters to live in the real life Alcatraz and woven in real life characters with whom they interact.  One of the most interesting things is the author’s note in which she describes the facts surrounding Alcatraz and how she used them.  We’re given glimpses into some of her interviews with people who really did live on Alcatraz with their families.  She also points out to us the events she has created that are fictional, but also explains where she pulled the ideas from.  This is a glimpse into her craft that I enjoyed and made the story even more enjoyable.

Even if you aren’t a huge historical fiction fan, you’ll enjoy the shenanigans of the Alcatraz kids.  Their characters are believable and, although set in 1935, highly relatable by both boys and girls.  Al Capone Shines My Shoes is a fun read that should not be missed!

Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

So this is another older book and not a new one.  I picked it up because it had was in my classroom when I moved in there, a whole class set of books and I never once read it in the past five years.  I figured it's high time I sat down and read it.  I'm glad I did.

Dragonwings

Laurence Yep

Scholastic Inc., 1975

ISBN:0-590-43450-0

Laurence Yep gives us Moon Shadow, a wonderfully written character who guides us through his journey to America at the turn of the twentieth century and the seven years after as he struggles to understand the ways of American.  Dragonwings introduces to Moon Shadow when he still lives in China with his mother and grandmother while they wait for their father who has traveled to the “demon land” in order to earn money and send it back to them.  One day Moon Shadow learns he will travel with a family friend and meet his father in this strange land.  In America he learns about the evils that many of the Tang people have fallen under in this strange new place.  He also learns about the good that the “demons” can bring with them as he and his father meet new people and work towards their dream of building a flying machine.  Eventually they must strike out alone as their family believes their dream of building Dragonwings is foolish. 

Although a historical fiction novel that paints a picture of how life was for Chinese immigrants at this time, this story is more about dreams and not giving up on them than just about the events that happen to the characters.  It shows us how Moon Shadow and his father grow together as they depend upon one another, but it also shows the pair learning to trust others—even those they have been taught not to trust. 

The Americans are painted as evil creatures who make silly decisions and have no idea of the truth towards the beginning of the novel.  This is how Moon Shadow has learned to understand them based on the way his people describe them, but also based on the way he and the other Tang people are treated by Americans.  We see the danger for the Tang people in simply walking the streets in demon villages, and the manner in which they’re spoken to by Americans.  During a disaster, they are made to leave safe ground and travel each day while officials decide what to do with them, while the Americans stay put and given rations.  Moon Shadow also meets “demons” who are kind and helpful and truly interested in what he and his father have to say.  It is through his father’s open-mindedness and encouragement that Moon Shadow begins to understand that good and evil are spread throughout the world and not concentrated within one group of people.

 

I enjoyed this novel, but I it was a rather slow read.  I found myself skimming some parts just to keep things going.  Even though it spans seven years, I found myself just waiting to see what was going to happen and being frustrated with description or narrative that didn’t seem to move it forward enough for me.  The characters were well formed for the most part, though, and I even felt that one of the evil characters was full enough for us to understand the hatred within him.  It was enough to feel sorry for this character, just as Moon Shadow comes to feel. 

Overall this is a great historical fiction that I did enjoy, but I find it difficult to give it more than three stars because it was difficult to get through.  I recommend this for readers who enjoy good historical fiction and stories about hope, because if there is one thing that Moon Shadow has throughout this story, it’s hope.