Fun and engaging historical intrigue.
In late 1970s Philadelphia, a lonely preteen finds a 200-year-old letter and uncovers a Revolutionary War–era secret.
At nearly 12, Theodora “Thunder” Underwood is used to being alone. Every summer, while her scientist parents travel for research, she’s shipped off to a different relative or professor friend of theirs, and every summer, she feels out of place and in the way. But when she arrives in Philadelphia to stay with eccentric Aunt Hazel at her historic mansion, Mount Pleasant, Thunder dreams of making a discovery that will put her on the path to becoming a historian. On her very first day there, she finds, hidden in the floorboards, a letter written in 1780 by a previous inhabitant, one 11-year-old Miss Margaret Percy, who goes by Mercy. Suddenly, Thunder is swept up into a story of intrigue, treason, spies, and daring escapes. The letter references Mercy’s journal, concealed somewhere within Mount Pleasant, which may hold the key to momentous events. But in order to find the journal and solve the puzzle, Thunder will have to do something she’s never done before: trust new friends. An adventure in the vein of Varian Johnson’s The Parker Inheritance and Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin’s The Bletchley Riddle, this novel has strong secondary characters and a well-established setting that carry it through the slow parts of the plot. Except for an enslaved historical character, the main cast presents white.
Fun and engaging historical intrigue. (historical notes) (Historical mystery. 8-13)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781635923261
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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