Book Review: Will Sparrow's Road, by Karen Cushman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012)

Recommended for ages 10-14.

Newbery-award winning novelist Karen Cushman is an expert writer of historical novels for youth, and is particularly drawn to tales set in "merry old England."  I use this phrase a bit ironically, since one of the features of Cushman's writings is that she does not shirk from describing the hardships of life at that time, particularly for those children in the lower classes.  Her newest book differs from all her past novels by featuring a boy as a protagonist rather than her usual feisty girl heroines.

The novel opens by introducing its hero as follows:

"Will Sparrow was a liar and a thief, and hungry, so when he saw the chance to steal a cold rabbit pie from the inn's kitchen and blame it on the dog, he took it--both the chance and the pie."

We learn that Will, not yet thirteen, has had a hard life, having been sold by his father to the innkeeper for free ale.  With the threat of being once again sold to London to be a chimney sweep, Will runs away, preferring the dangerous life on the road, in which he must scrounge for food and some kind of shelter from the cold,` to a sure early death as a "climbing boy."  What kind of future faces our hero, besides an empty belly?

Will meets up with all kinds of colorful characters on his travels in Elizabethan England, including a quack of a doctor who recruits Will to serve as his stooge, a blind juggler, and a cranky dwarf, and quickly learns to trust no one. Will manages to attach himself to a group of entertainers who perform at fairs, an Elizabethan freak show that includes a unicorn skull and a sea monster.  He even makes a few friends, including Duchess, the world's smartest pig, who performs tricks and even is learning to understand French, her owner, Samuel Knobby, and Grace, a young girl with a hairy face who is billed as a live monster in the show of wonders.  As we might expect in a book for young readers, Will, who is friendless and penniless at the beginning of the tale, ultimately finds a family of sorts, one of his own choosing, among the misfits of the fair.

I have to say that this was not among my favorite of Cushman's novels; the story simply didn't engage me the way Midwife's Apprentice, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, and others of her work have.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I think that the story is not paced as well as some of her other books and I was not as drawn to the character of Will as to some of her earlier protagonists.  As always, however, she is skilled at creating an authentic historical setting, and the reader is drawn into the world of the Elizabethan fair, including its smells and sounds.  She liberally sprinkles her text with Elizabethan-sounding phrases, such as "certes" to provide some local color as well.

While this book is likely to appeal to those youngsters who are drawn to historical stories, I would be more likely to recommend others of Cushman's titles to a young reader before this one.

Nonfiction Monday Book Review: William Shakespeare: His Life and Times, by Kristen McDermott and Ari Berk (Templar Books, 2010) ISBN 978-0-7636-4794-0

Recommended for ages 8 and up.


This handsome interactive volume, similar to the "Ology" series also published by Candlewick (the highly popular Pirateology, Dragonology, etc.), purports to be William Shakespeare's personal scrapbook, put together in April, 1613, on the eve of his retirement from London to Stratford-upon Avon.

The book is filled with all kinds of fun envelopes and tiny books to open and peruse, as well as a plethora of color illustrations.  Candlewick provides a You-Tube video in which each page is turned and the viewer can see how various parts of the book open, allowing potential readers to see the layout of the book without bothering to visit the bookstore.

Written in a kind of mock-Elizabethan style, Shakespeare writes his reminiscences for the benefit of his daughter, Judith.  Sidebars supplement these faux memoirs with facts, such as we know them, about Shakespeare's life, although the authors are careful to note that, for all his fame, we really know relatively little about Shakespeare's life.  Nonetheless, the Bard recounts his childhood days in Stratford, including frolicking in the Forest of Arden with his siblings, his school days, courting and then progresses to talking about his marriage to Anne Hathaway, the birth of their children and the loss of his beloved son Hamnet at the age of 11.  Shakespeare's scrapbook touches on a wide variety of topics, including life in London, the Globe Theatre, his fellow players, love and war, feasts and fun in Elizabethan England, life at court, ghosts and fairies, and more.  The scrapbook concludes with Shakespeare's Last Will and Testament, and a letter from Shakespeare to his daughter Judith.

The book is not really laid out in a manner that would make it easily usable for a school biographical report on Shakespeare, but it could certainly supplement a more conventional biography and would make a valuable and entertaining classroom resource for teachers to have on hand when studying Shakespeare plays.  Although the book is suitable for ages 8 and above, it may be more likely to appeal to students who have already begun studying Shakespeare in school (here in California that's in middle school).  If a parent were taking a child to their first Shakespeare performance, this scrapbook would also be excellent to read together to provide historical background.  Brief excerpts from various plays are included, as are synopses of some of his key works.

As the holidays approach, I can't help but think what a lovely holiday gift this would make to a favorite English teacher!

For more on Shakespeare, don't forget to explore the Folger's Library's website, which includes an extensive section for students and families, as well as an outstanding array of resources for teachers.

Young readers interested in reading more about Shakespeare's life might enjoy Bard of Avon:  The Story of William Shakespeare, by Diane Stanley and Peter Venemma (Harper Collins, 1998), or
Shakespeare:  His Work and His World, by Michael Rosen (Candlewick, 2006).

For more great non-fiction books for young people, check out the links to this week's Nonfiction Monday posts at In Need of Chocolate.

Book Review: Cate of the Lost Colony, by Lisa Klein (Bloomsbury, 2010)

Recommended for ages 12 and up. 

Lisa Klein's absorbing fourth novel plunges the reader head-first into the mystery of the lost Roanoke Colony of Virginia.  As Klein writes in an afterword, the fate of the 117 men, women, and children who landed on Roanoke Island in 1587 is "perhaps the greatest unsolved mystery in American history." 

This new novel represents historical fiction at its best; Klein creates an appealing fictional character, young Cate Archer, and inserts her into the actual events of the time in a historically believable way, and in so doing illuminates a fascinating but little-studied mystery of American history.

Our heroine, young Cate, seems to be blessed in her position as a favorite attendant to Queen Elizabeth; but the Queen's favor is fickle, and when she discovers that her current favorite, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Cate share a mutual romantic attraction, she arrests Cate in a fit of jealousy and then exiles her to Raleigh's new colony in the New World.  Unbeknownst to the Queen, Cate craves adventure, and dreams of escaping to a new life.  She is fascinated by tales of the New World and the Native Americans who are brought across the ocean to the court as curiosities.  These include the handsome young Manteo, a Croatoan Indian who quickly learns English, and narrates parts of the story, alternating with Cate herself and Sir Walter Raleigh. 

Klein uses the actual passengers who sailed to Roanoke to populate the rest of her novel, including little Virginia Dare, considered to be the first English baby to be born on American soil.  The colonists arrive too late in the summer to successfully plant crops to sustain them through the winter, and Governor White sails back to England to beg for supplies.  But life does not go well on Roanoke; the colonists clash with the local Indians, and fight among themselves as well.  Cate, in her courageous efforts to make the colony succeed, begins to learn the local language and befriend the native women.  Help from England does not arrive...will the colonists survive?  Will Sir Walter himself come to save Cate, or should she allow herself to experience a new love in the New World, with Manteo and his tribe?

Since no one knows what really happened to the Roanoke colonists, Klein is free to imagine her own version of events, one which I found perfectly believable and fitting (and which I will not discuss since I don't want to spoil the suspense for any readers!)  The author's afterword gives details on her research and her treatment of some of the historical figures in the story, particularly Sir Walter Raleigh.

One element of the novel I particularly enjoyed was the contrast between the wealth and intrigues of life at Queen Elizabeth's court and the hardships of life at the new colony.  Klein handles depiction of the native culture in a sensitive way, although she emphasizes that nothing is known about the particulars of Manteo's people.  Instead, Klein incorporates Algonkian legends and history to imagine Manteo's personality and mindset.  Also, there is a great romantic triangle at work here between Cate, Sir Walter, and Manteo that should have great teen appeal (sorry, better than Bella, Edward, and Jacob!)

A slideshow of images related to the book that inspired the author can be found on the author's website here.

More on Roanoke:

For students who are interested in exploring Roanoke further, there are numerous non-fiction books about Roanoke for young people.  These include:

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, by Jean Fritz (Putnam, 2004)
Mystery of the Lost Colony, by Lee Miller (Scholastic, 2007)
Roanoke The Lost Colony:  An Unsolved Mystery from History, by Heidi Stemple and Jane Yolen (Simon & Schuster, 2003)

Those interested in fiction about Roanoke might like to read the just-published Sabotaged, the newest volume in Margaret Peterson Haddix' series The Missing (Book 3) (Simon & Schuster, 2010).  In this novel, aimed at a slightly younger audience (10-14 year olds), two contemporary time-travelers find themselves with a missing child from history, who turns out to be Virginia Dare of the Roanoke Colony.  Haddix provides an excellent afterword with additional historical information on Roanoke.

Another option for this age group is The Lyon Saga, a trilogy about Roanoke by M. L. Stainer; the first volume is The Lyon's Roar (Circleville Press, 1997).

Teens may also be interested in a very well-reviewed new non-fiction book for adults about the colony, A Kingdom Strange:  The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by James Horn (Basic Books, 2010).




Release date:  October 12, 2010. 

Shakespeare Fan Fiction: Reviews of Fool's Girl and Lady Macbeth's Daughter

Recommended for ages 12 and up.


Shakespeare and his characters not only live forever in his own plays, but seem to inspire an endless stream of what I call "professional fan fiction"--that is, authors who use characters from other works to write unique literature of their own.  Today I'll be looking at two recent additions to the trove of Shakespeare-inspired fiction for teens:
The Fool's Girl by British author Celia Rees (Bloomsbury, 2010); and Lady Macbeth's Daughter, by American author Lisa Klein (Bloomsbury, 2009).  

The Fool's Girl:  I was eagerly anticipating reading The Fool's Girl, since I have read many of Rees' other historical novels, including Pirates!, Witch Child, and Sorceress, and have always found her books to be very compelling.  However, I have to say I was disappointed with her newest work, which I found confusing to follow and which just didn't sweep me away as her other books have done.  Inspired by Twelfth Night, which Rees says in an afterword is her favorite Shakespeare play, the novel centers around a young noble girl Violetta and her companion, Feste, the fool.  They have come to London from Illyria to rescue a holy relic, her country's greatest treasure, which the evil Malvolio has stolen and brought to England to help unite Catholics in a convoluted plot against Queen Elizabeth.  Somehow she turns to a young poet and actor, Will Shakespeare, for help in outwitting Malvolio and saving her country's heritage.  


Shakespeare himself is a key character in the story, and we meet him as a young poet and businessman trying to manage the Globe, write the plays, even serve as an actor.  We also see him as a family man, visiting his wife and daughters in Stratford-on-Avon.  


Violetta tells Will her story and that of her mother, Viola, which at the end of the novel he begins to weave into a new play, one which will turn into Twelfth Night.  Other Shakespeare plays also figure into the novel; parts of the story take place in the Forest of Arden, a wooded area near Stratford-on-Avon that is the setting for As You Like It, and the players put on Midsummer Night's Dream during the story, with Violetta playing a minor part (despite the fact that it was illegal for women to act on the stage at the time).  


Rees alternates the narration between Violetta, telling her story in the first person, Maria, formerly in the court of Violetta's mother, Feste, the fool, and a third person narrator; the profusion of narrators makes the complex story even more confusing.  For those who are intimately acquainted with Twelfth Night, the story may be less difficult to follow, but I fear this novel will be a hard sell with teens who aren't familiar with the play, or that they will start the book but not complete it.  Certainly many will be drawn to this book by the gorgeous cover (another YA novel continuing the trend of partial faces....)


I did enjoy how Rees captured the spirit of Elizabethan England with many evocative period details; I thought the section of the novel where the players travel and put on plays in the various towns where they stop was particularly well done, showing how the players transformed ordinary inns into magical theaters for the common folk (and how rare such entertainment was for those in the countryside!) 




Lady MacBeth's Daughter:  I found Lisa Klein's re-imagining of Shakespeare's Macbeth much more successful than The Fool's Girl.  In her afterword, Klein says she wanted to give an "entirely new perspective on the events of Shakespeare's play, using a protagonist who is outside the main action but crucial to its unfolding."  Instead of using a character already in the play,  Klein adds an entirely new character to Shakespeare's mix--a daughter, Albia, born to Lady Macbeth and her husband.  While in the play Lady Macbeth is barren, Klein was inspired by a scene where Lady Macbeth says to her husband, "I have given suck, and know/How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me..." (1.7.54-55).  This passage certainly suggests that Lady Macbeth had a child who subsequently died, a common enough occurrence in those times.  


In the prologue of this novel, Lady Macbeth gives birth to a girl child with a crippled leg--a child considered so worthless that she is put out for the wolves to eat.  However, Lady Macbeth's servant rescues the baby, and brings her to the woods where she is raised with no knowledge of her royal heritage by three strange sisters (the witches in the play).  


We see the essential events in Shakespeare's play unfold through two different narrators, Grelach (Lady Macbeth), and her daughter, Albia.  When Macbeth's fortune is foretold by the weird sisters, Albia's life becomes intertwined with theirs.  Sent to live with Banquo and his family to serve as companion to his wife, Albia falls in love with their handsome son, Fleance, who teaches her to use a sword and hone her "warlike spirit."  While she learns to fight, the romantic sparks fly between the two young people as well.  


It is only when her foster mother lies dying that Albia learns the truth--Macbeth, now Scotland's king, is her father, and she receives a valuable gold bracelet that belonged to her mother as proof.  Albia, like the three sisters, has the gift of sight, and realizes with horror that she is the daughter of a murderer and his wife, who are making all of Scotland suffer.  Can she save the man she loves, and her country as well?  


Albia is a take charge heroine who should appeal to girls who like characters like Katniss in The Hunger Games.  I am familiar with the original play of Macbeth, but felt this novel could be read by those who hadn't read or seen the play, and might in fact inspire them to seek out the play either for reading or to watch on DVD.  I particularly enjoyed how Klein's writing invoked the gloomy mood of the original, with its pervasive violence, witches, and battles, while still including a spark of romance that appeals to her teenage audience.  


An author's note provides some useful background on Shakespeare's own sources, as well as information on the "real" Macbeth and some of the sources the author used to so effectively recreate the atmosphere of ancient Scotland.  


Watch my blog for more on Shakespeare-inspired novels for teens in a future post.  

Book Review: Alchemy and Meggie Swann by Karen Cushman (Clarion, 2010)

If you enjoy historical fiction for young people, you can't do better than reading Newbery-winning author Karen Cushman, who in this novel returns to England, the setting of several of her most acclaimed books including Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice. Alchemy and Meggy Swann takes us to Elizabethan London, where we meet Meggy, another very strong heroine in the tradition of Cushman's other novels. Meggy hasn't had an easy life--lame since birth, she is ridiculed by the villagers where she grew up, who consider cripples to be cursed by the devil. When the novel starts, she is dropped off in London with her only friend, an equally feisty lame goose named Louise, to live with her father whom she has never met. Her father, we discover, is an alchemist, who has little use for his lame daughter. Told in the first person by Meggie, this novel captures the smells, sights, and sounds of Elizabethan London, while creating an appealing heroine that readers will root for as she confronts physical, social and ethical challenges in her life with wit and humor. A poisoning scandal at the highest levels of the court and a friendship with a charming actor add to the plot. Recommended for ages 10-14.

I look forward to seeing Karen Cushman later this afternoon, when she will be signing books at Mrs. Nelsons Toy and Book Shop, our local independent children's bookseller. I hope to be able to publish a brief interview with her tomorrow if her time permits.