Historical Book Reviews
335 book reviews found, page 9 of 67. Narrow results by selecting age range:
Boneshaker
Kate Milford (2010), 384 pages
Illustrated by Andrea Offermann
Audience: 5th Grade - 8th Grade
Natalie Minks' big secret is that she cannot ride the special bicycle she and her father rebuilt. Her father owns the bicycle repair shop in the town of Arcane, Missouri. The year is 1913, ten years after another pair of bicycle repair shop owners, Wilbur and Orville Wright, first began their experimental airplane flights. Natalie's mother tells the most amazing stories about people who live and have lived in their town, such as the time old Tom Guyot met the Devil and won a guitar playing contest with him. Natalie wonders if the story could be true. While the town doctor is called away to another town to battle a mysterious illness, Dr. Jake Limberleg is forced to stop in Arcane, due to a broken wagon wheel. He sets up his Nostrum Fair and Technological medicine show right outside the town. Dr. Limberleg claims to be able to diagnose and cure any illness, a claim which seems to be true. Natalie finds Dr. Jake Limberleg and his fellow 'scientists' to be highly suspicious. Could Dr. Limberleg be in league with the Devil?
Similar books: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznick
Reviewed by: vverscaj
Date read: 4/14/2011
ISBN-10: 0547241879
ISBN-13: 9780547241876
Check the library catalog
Medieval life is not easy for an indentured servant. Johanna must do whatever her mistress tells her to do. Her mistress is Dame Margery Kempe, known for her public prayers and fits of weeping in sympathy with the Lord's suffering. Dame Margery says she was told by God that she must go on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, and Johanna must accompany her. This is Johanna's story of the difficult journey, by boat and by foot, from England to Rome. It is a journey that takes pilgrims through what is now Germany and over the Alps. Her fellow pilgrims treat Johanna as though she is servant to them all. Along the way, Dame Margery deserts Johanna, but Johanna continues to travel and search for Dame Margery, since that is the only way Johanna knows she can return home.
This story is based on the actual first-known autobiography of Dame Margery Kempe about her life and pilgrimage. The maidservant was real, too, although she was never named in Dame Margery's story.
Similar books: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz;
Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple
Reviewed by: vverscaj
Date read: 12/13/2011
ISBN-13: 9780375858567
Bird McGill's dream is to fly a P-40 Warhawk plane, the one the fighter pilots fly, but as a girl, her mother would rather see her in dresses than in a cockpit. It's 1941, and after Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Bird's dad is off to war. When Kenji, a Japanese boy, begins at Bird's school, the other kids regard him suspiciously. Then Bird and Kenji wind up together in a rowboat when they see something they shouldn't: a submarine in the bay. Could there be spies in the area? When there is an explosion and a murder in town, and Kenji's uncle is blamed, Bird has a secret that could set him free. Will telling what she knows endanger her family? Will keeping her secret endanger her country?
Awards nominated: 2013 Rebecca Caudill Nominee
Reviewed by: emc
Date read: 7/12/2012
ISBN-10: 0375846077
ISBN-13: 9780375846076
Boxes for Katje
Candace Fleming (2003), 40 pages
Illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen
Audience: K - 3rd Grade
As the winter after World War II ends, it is very cold in Katje's village in Holland. There are no new shoes, and there is no sugar or soap. One day, a box comes in the mail for Katje. Someone in America has sent Katje warm socks, a bar of soap, and some chocolate! Katje shares her wonderful box with her mother and the mailman and writes a thank you letter to America. Boxes continue to come across the ocean, and Katje shares them all with everyone in her village. How can Katje thank her American friend?
Reviewed by: sc
Date read: 7/6/2009
ISBN-10: 0374309221
ISBN-13: 9780374309220
Fourteen-year-old Tao, a Cro-Magnon, prehistoric boy, longs to become a cave painter. Due to a bad foot, and his social status, he is forbidden to do so, and eventually becomes an outcast. Will his friendship with an artistic shaman help him realize his dream? Also look for the sequel, Return to the Painted Cave.
Reviewed by: sc
Date read: 4/13/2009
ISBN-10: 039921559X
ISBN-13: 9780399215599
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