When the woman who owns her indenture dies of arsenic poisoning, 14-year-old Patience flees before she can be sold. Suspected of stealing her mistress’s money, she hides at the print shop where young Ben Franklin works. The two collaborate to find the real murderer and thief and to free a midwife accused of the poisoning and witchcraft. The early-18th-century Boston setting is believable, and the teenage Ben comes to life, clever and resourceful, with a fine and familiar way with words. A kite and a coded message embedded in a newspaper article help them solve the mystery. Each chapter begins with a relevant quotation from the real Franklin, often from Poor Richard’s Almanac. Spunky Patience, daughter of a ship’s first mate and the slave he stole from a Virginia plantation, is a girl with modern ideas about women at odds with those of her times; readers will find her a sympathetic and courageous character and applaud her success. Another entertaining historical mystery by the author of Wicked Will (2009). (Historical mystery. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9760-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A promising, fast-paced series opener.
Twins Pew and Basket Church find clues to their pasts and a dangerous foe in a literally Revolutionary setting.
Upon leaping through a time portal to escape 12 years of misery in the misleadingly named Sweet Loveliness Home for the Nurturing Development of De-Parented Children, the intrepid foundlings land back in 1777—not far from where George Washington, in the wake of the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn Heights, is on the verge of throwing in the towel. Can they convince him to change his mind? Their efforts are complicated by a hidden treasure lying at the end of a trail of riddles, a megalomaniacal fellow time traveler out to manipulate history rather than preserve it, and the fact that Pew is a Black boy and Basket is a white girl. A second, ill-managed time jaunt results in their hands being swapped on their bodies. Although this mishap leads to sibling strife—“Stop picking your nose with my fingers!”—the course of history is righted by the end of an expertly crafted whirl of chases, betrayals, escapes, and revelations. A flimsy rationale for not asking a grateful Washington to abolish slavery in return for the twins’ game-changing help sounds a sour note, but the parade of (more or less) accurately rendered historical persons and events, several tantalizing mysteries, and the smart and resourceful protagonists will be enough to carry readers through multiple sequels. Schweizer’s occasional illustrations add humor and liveliness.
A promising, fast-paced series opener. (historical notes, bibliography) (Adventure. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780316447010
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2024
Georgie's story will capture readers' imaginations with the very first sentences and then hold them hostage until the final...
In 1871, in the small town of Placid, Wis., a sister goes missing and a great adventure begins.
Disconsolate over the end of a promising courtship, Agatha Burkhardt runs off without so much as a goodbye to her younger sister, Georgie. When the sheriff attempts to locate and retrieve Agatha, he brings home not the vibrant sister that Georgie adores, but an unidentifiable body wearing Agatha’s ball gown. Alone in her belief that the body is not her sister’s, Georgie sneaks away in the dead of night, determined to retrace Agatha’s steps in order to solve the mystery of her disappearance and, she hopes, to bring her home. To Georgie's surprise, she’s joined on the journey by her sister’s former flame. And what a journey it is, fraught with mountain lions, counterfeiters and marriage proposals. The truly memorable characters and setting—particularly descriptions of the incredible phenomenon of passenger-pigeon nesting and migration—and the gradual unraveling of the mystery of Agatha’s disappearance make this one hard to put down. The icing on the cake, though, is Georgie’s narration, which is fresh, laugh-out-loud funny and an absolute delight to read.
Georgie's story will capture readers' imaginations with the very first sentences and then hold them hostage until the final page is turned. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86925-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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