A high-stakes historical adventure full of emotional, social and political drama.
Historical middle-grade fiction about a 12-year-old Scottish girl forced to flee her home and travel to the New World in the year 1692.
Debut novelist Macreery tells thestory of Dory MacDonald, a survivor of the massacre of Glencoe, an attack on three Scottish settlements ordered by the king of England in the late 1600s. The book begins as the MacDonald clan is ambushed by members of a rival clan in league with William of Orange, the British monarch. Dory, along with her parents and a small fraction of her clan, escapes the attack. As the group takes cover in the freezing woods of the Scottish Highlands, Dory’s mother falls ill and dies. Before Dory can even confront her grief, her father insists that she leave Scotland and travel to the New World, where she may take refuge with her mother’s sister in a place called Massachusetts. Although devastated by her apparent banishment, Dory comes to understand that since she is the granddaughter of her clan’s chief, she has a duty to survive. As war continues in Scotland, Dory must get to safety to preserve the history of her people. She thus begins a journey, first trekking across Scotland and then traveling the sea. As Macreery depicts the difficult voyage, she emphasizes Dory’s loneliness and fear while providing fascinating details about Scotland’s people, terrain and wildlife, as well as the hardships of ocean crossings in the 17th century. When Dory finally arrives in Massachusetts, the action continues as she finds herself in the midst of the famous Salem witch trials. Macreery’s well-researched story is chock-full of historical information seamlessly woven into Dory’s quest to extricate herself from one dangerous situation after another. In light of the death and devastation presented throughout the book, this story isn’t for the faint of heart. Regardless, the fast pace and suspense-filled pages will keep younger teens engrossed while providing notable history lessons.
A high-stakes historical adventure full of emotional, social and political drama.Pub Date: April 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-1478733461
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Outskirts Press Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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