by Anita Sanchez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2008
When the British frigate Nymph invades the small Massachusetts fishing village where 12-year-old Lemuel has moved with his mother in 1814, he uses his head and skills honed working on his family farm to alert townsfolk and the Gloucester militia and later to facilitate a prisoner-of-war exchange. Opening with a scene in which Lemuel ineptly drops the fish he’s finally caught and nearly swamps the boat, the author introduces a character readers will sympathize with. Out of place in a world of boys who have been fishing all their lives, Lemuel has grown up with tales of Revolutionary War heroism and the fearsome British navy. When the War of 1812 comes to Sandy Bay, it is nothing like that. The sailors are just like people he knows; it’s the Gloucester militia who make things difficult. Sticking reasonably closely to the known facts of the invasion, Sanchez has written a lively third-person account of a little-known event, with believable dialogue and plenty of detail about daily life that should be welcomed by readers of the genre. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59078-560-7
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
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by Anita Sanchez ; illustrated by Lily Padula
by Alan Gratz ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2017
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
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In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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by Scott O'Dell ; illustrated by Ted Lewin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1990
An outstanding new edition of this popular modern classic (Newbery Award, 1961), with an introduction by Zena Sutherland and...
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-395-53680-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
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