Spiers’ (co-author Principles of Neuropsychology, 2000) middle-grade novel transports young Hannah Sinclair back to the 1700s, where she meets her ancestors and becomes embroiled in a dastardly British plot.
It’s present-day July Fourth in Philadelphia, and Hannah Sinclair is bored. Her grandmother and her uncle love Revolutionary War history; every Independence Day, they participate in re-enactments at City Tavern. Her grandma is especially proud of an 18th-century recipe book once owned by Mary Newport, who had a pastry shop in colonial Philly. After Hannah finds a coded message in the book, along with a doodle seemingly in her own handwriting, she finds herself back in time at the first celebration of Independence Day: July Fourth, 1777. Luckily, she’s in period garb for the re-enactment, but there’s much more for her to learn. With exceedingly great-grandmother Lydia as her guide, she’s soon baking pastries for members of Congress. But when she overhears a Tory scheme to kidnap them and end the war in Britain’s favor, it’s up to Hannah and her new friends to keep history from changing. The trope of a sullen youngster learning to appreciate history via time travel isn’t a new one, but Spiers makes things interesting by delving into historical complexity; for instance, the Newports are Quakers, pacifists who don’t take sides in the war. That’s not good enough for some Patriots, who take a with-us-or-against-us attitude, so the pastry shop’s windows are broken by rock-throwing rowdies for the crime of being open on the festive day. Hannah, who didn’t pay much attention in history class, sees things in black and white—Americans good, British bad—and struggles to understand the unexpected shades of gray. For instance, once she learns Benedict Arnold is attending the banquet, she’s sure he’s the one who will betray Congress to the British, since he’s now synonymous with “traitor.” Spiers bases many of her characters on historical figures—Mary and Lydia are her own predecessors and were indeed Quakers—which nicely grounds things in reality.
Lively and informative history.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
