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Durrant, S. E.
8 Reviews
(2)
4-6
When Grandad dies, eleven-year-old runner AJ loses both his coach and the person who kept his household operating--AJ's parents both have learning difficulties, and Grandad always looked after their finances and house maintenance. Now, ill-equipped as he is, AJ feels he must take on that role. This sensitive story of sorrow and anxiety, humor and family affection, develops gradually in Durrant's alertness to small, important moments in everyday life.
Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2019
(3)
4-6
Illustrated by
Katie Harnett.
Gathering diary entries from her childhood, foster kid Ira chronicles how "life got exciting" for herself and her younger brother, Zac, when they moved into London children's home Skilly House in 1987. A quiet, emotion-driven episodic novel about family and finding a home, with a narrator so sincere that readers will stay invested until the very end.
Reviewer: Rebecca Fox
(3)
4-6
During the Civil War, Rosemary Elizabeth's mother relocates her children to the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, to keep them safe. There, creative, free-thinking Rosemary Elizabeth finds herself constantly bumping up against the Shakers' emphasis on perfection. A unique setting and a perceptive heroine combine to create a thought-provoking story about finding one's own path. Bib.
Reviewer: Norah Piehl
(4)
YA
Connie (Cross Your Heart, Connie Pickles) goes to Paris for "two-and-a-bit" weeks on a school exchange. She hopes to see the sights and meet her estranged grandparents. While there, she gets caught up in her host family's messy lives and rethinks some ideas about friendship. Connie's diary entries are light and funny but a little bit too polished to be convincing.
Reviewer: Amanda Mc. MacGregor
(4)
YA
British teen Connie Pickles daydreams of living in Paris as "Constance de Bellechasse." Instead, she's stuck in a cramped flat with her harried mother and two stepsiblings. In her diary, Connie details her plan to find a proper (and prosperous) man for her mother. Packed with intricate scheming, Connie's diary is a little too polished to be convincing.
Reviewer: Amanda Mc. MacGregor
(4)
4-6
Based on the true story of Betsy Zane, the novel follows her journey from Philadelphia to Fort Henry on the Ohio River. The story, which lightly touches on some of the issues of the time such as slavery and the American Revolution, deals mostly with Betsy's quest to be treated as an equal by men. The narration is not always smooth, but overall it presents a strong heroine.
Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman
(4)
4-6
The protagonist of Echohawk, a white boy raised by Mohicans, is returned to the home of a birth relative, where he chafes under the colonial way of life. Echohawk runs away and joins his Mohican father and brother as they travel to a new home and are captured by Iroquois. The pace lags during the latter half of the novel, and the Iroquois attack is anticlimactic, but the prose is solid.
Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta
(3)
4-6
Twelve-year-old Mary is kidnapped by Delaware Indians in this story based on a 1759 historical incident. Forced to march from Pennsylvania to Ohio, where she is adopted as a granddaughter of Netawatwees, Mary's adaptation to Native life is skillfully and subtly revealed. Thoughtful characterizations, a strong sense of place, and an involving present tense narration make this a solid historical novel. Glos.
Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.
8 reviews
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