Book Review: Mira's Diary: Lost in Paris, by Marissa Moss (Sourcebooks, 2012)

Recommended for ages 9-14.

Author-illustrator Marissa Moss has two excellent new historical fiction novels for young people out this fall:  Mira's Diary: Lost in Paris and A Soldier's Secret.  Today I will be reviewing the first of these, and a review of the Civil War historical thriller A Soldier's Secret will be coming next week in my blog.

In Mira's Diary, Moss creates a time travel story melding the exciting artistic world of 19th century Paris with the shocking political intrigue and anti-Semitism of the infamous Dreyfus affair.  Although the Dreyfus affair is well known to those interested in French history, it's certainly not a topic most young people in the U.S. will be at all familiar with, and I applaud Moss for choosing to set her story around this important tale of corruption and scapegoats.

Our story begins when young Mira receives a strange postcard of a gargoyle from Notre Dame in Paris from her mother, who has been missing without any explanation for many months.  Not only is the black and white postcard very old-fashioned looking, so is the faded French stamp.  And "who sends postcards anymore?," wonders Mira.

With the postcard their only clue, Mira, her father, and her 16-year old brother take off to Paris, hoping to find her mother.  They check into a quaint hotel in the Marais, Paris' historic Jewish quarter, before going off to explore the famous cathedral.  Mira can't help looking everywhere for her mother, but it's not until she touches a gargoyle on the top gallery of the cathedral that she realizes she's been looking in the wrong century!  Magically transported to April, 1881, Mira not only befriends a good-looking young man who turns out to be an assistant to the famous French artist Degas, she also finds herself embroiled in the Dreyfus affair, a political scandal that involved the French army and virulent anti-Semitism in the French military and society at large.  Mira spots her mother several times, and receives several mysterious and secret notes from her.  It's clear that her mother is in danger, and Mira must step up to try to keep Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer, from being unjustly punished as a traitor.

This novel manages to mix very serious topics such as prejudice and anti-Semitism with an up-close look at late 19th century Parisian artistic life, letting us visit Giverny, Montmartre, the Impressionists Exhibition, and Parisian salons populated by famous artists such as Degas, Monet, Seurat, and Mary Cassatt.  Moss even throws in a hint of romance between Mira and Degas' handsome young assistant Claude.  Although readers will learn a lot about history and art through this book, they will also be entertained by the suspenseful story featuring a likable heroine who finds herself in a difficult--and certainly unusual--situation.

In the manner of her Amelia's Notebook series and her historical journals, Moss gives this new book the feel of a real journal or diary, from the cover with its mock journal binding to the charming small pencil sketches distributed liberally throughout the novel and the endpapers decorated with Mira's notes to herself, a map of France, and French vocabulary.

An extensive author's note provides a detailed explanation of the complexities of the Dreyfus affair (geared for tween readers) and the military corruption and anti-Semitism it exposed in 19th century Paris.  Moss also provides brief notes on Paris in the late 19th century, the impressionist art movement, and author Emile Zola, who wrote the famous "J'accuse" newspaper article in favor of Dreyfus.   A bibliography lists other resources and books consulted by the author.

Book Review: The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette, by Bianca Turetsky (Poppy/Little Brown, 2012)

Recommended for ages 10 to 14.

In the second in her series about a fashion-obsessed middle-schooler who time travels by trying on vintage clothing, Bianca Turetsky turns to the court of Marie Antoinette, who was truly a fashionista before the word was coined.  Louise, our heroine, is once again invited to a vintage sale by the Traveling Fashionista, the same store she visited when she mysteriously time-travelled to the Titanic's maiden--and only--voyage.

Louise's father, an attorney, has recently lost her job, and now Louise can't go on her French class trip to Paris.  But no worries--Louise is about to have a much more exciting adventure than a class trip.  When Louise visits Marla and Glenda's mysterious vintage shop, which is located on a street that doesn't appear on any maps, she tries on a delicate blue satin ball gown, a genuine Rose Bertin.  Although the designer's name means nothing to Louise, Rose Bertin was dressmaker to Marie Antoinette, and as soon as Louise tries on the gown, she is magically transported to Versailles.  There she becomes Gabrielle, the Duchesse de Polignac, and the dear friend of a pretty blonde teenager that Louise soon figures out is the doomed Marie Antoinette.  Can Louise open Marie Antoinette's eyes to the suffering of the French people, and maybe save her life in the bargain?  And will she be able to get back to the 21st century in her magic dress?

I loved the premise of this book, since my #1 time-travel destination would be to the court of Marie Antoinette, but I could not help but be disappointed in many aspects of the execution.  Marie Antoinette was indeed the "Queen of Fashion" (see the excellent biography by historian Caroline Weber, Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution), and in that sense a trip to her court is a perfect match for this fashionista series.  But I was troubled how Turetsky plays fast and loose with historical timetables, which bothers me in historical fiction, particularly for kids, where they might not know the historical facts.  For example, although no date is given, Louise remarks that Marie Antoinette is not much older than she is, so we can assume it takes place around 1770 --the year she marries the heir to the French throne, Louise-Auguste.  Turetsky repeatedly refers to Marie Antoinette's husband as Louis XVI, although he didn't take on that title until the death of his grandfather, Louise XV, in 1774.  She also has Louise turn into the Duchesse de Polignac, a very close friend of Marie Antoinette, but one whom she didn't even meet until 1775.  Also, Marie Antoinette is depicted as being unpopular with the French people, a development that happened much later in her reign.  And when they visit Marie Antoinette's dressmaker, they come home with boxes full of clothes, which were all made to order in those days.  Perhaps some of these details are cleared up by the author in a "Historical References" section, which did not appear in my advance copy, but I think if the author wanted to include some of these characters and events that take place closer to the French Revolution, she ought to have set the story a bit later, to keep the historical timeline more accurate, even if that would have made Louise and Marie Antoinette not quite so close in age.

An element of the book that I very much admired are the abundant fashion illustrations, done by fashion illustrator Sandra Suy.  They will be in full-color in the final version, although I had to make do with black and white in my advance copy.  The style reminded me very much of the vintage Barbie illustrations from the late 1950's and early 1960's, and fit very well with the Rococo style of the 18th century clothes.

Despite my criticism of the historical misrepresentations in this book, I do think that tween girls will enjoy this time travel adventure.  For those tweens who want to learn more about the endlessly fascinating Marie Antoinette, I would recommend the recent book by Carolyn Meyer, The Bad Queen:  Rules and Instructions for Marie Antoinette, a perfect match for that age group.

Book Review: The Last Musketeer, by Stuart Gibbs (Harper Collins, 2011)

Recommended for ages 8-12.

As a Three Musketeers fan since I was twelve years old, I was of course excited to read this new time travel story, in which a 21st century boy travels back to France of the early 17th century, befriending the future musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.  Author Stuart Gibbs' fast paced, action-packed tale may well appeal to today's tweens, but I couldn't help but be disappointed in the way he interprets Dumas' classic story for the 21st century.

The story starts off strong, with a terrific first sentence that will grab any young reader:  "Clinging to the prison wall, Greg Rich realized how much he hated time travel."  On a trip to Paris with his family to sell the family's treasured heirlooms to the Louvre, Greg and his parents are pulled through a time warp, winding up in 1615.  When his parents are falsely imprisoned for trying to kill the young Louis XIII, Greg must rescue them--by meeting up with three teenagers like himself, Aramis, a young cleric, Athos, a soldier from the lower social classes, and Porthos, a foppish rich young nobleman who's the life of the party.  Greg himself becomes known as D'Artagnan (in the original a fish-out-of-water himself, as a bumbling, hot-headed young man from the distant province of Gascony.  Mix in a nefarious brother of Cardinal Richelieu (the Cardinal being a central character in Dumas' novel), and a young Milady de Winter (the original villainess in the Three Musketeers), some tropes of fantasy fiction (a stone that grants eternal life), and voila!  a 21st century musketeer rehash.


Gibbs does a good job with the whole fish-out-of-water time travel tropes, with Greg disgusted by the smells of Paris, the privies, and the fleas, among others.  The book of matches in his pocket make the 17th century characters he meet think he's a magician, as does his ability to swim.  There's plenty of action, as Greg and his new-found friends swashbuckle their way to saving Greg's parents.  At the end, they don't go back to the 21st century, which makes me think that Gibbs has a sequel up his sleeve.

While I can't help but appreciate any author that brings Dumas' characters to the attention of 21st century kids, I couldn't get over several changes to the original story that drove me crazy.  First of all, the author keeps referring to Greg being in medieval Paris.  While the streets of Paris might have been similar to the way they were in the Middle Ages, 1615 is definitely not considered the Middle Ages, and I wonder how such a glaring error could have escaped the Harper editors, not to mention the professor of French history who Gibbs thanks in his acknowledgment for vetting the manuscript.  Second, and what bothered me more as a fan of the original novel, which I couldn't help wondering if Gibbs had actually read, he changed many key elements of the musketeers' personalities.  For example, Athos, or the Conte de la Fere in the original, was a member of the nobility, not a common soldier, as Gibbs makes him out to be.  Appearing as a young girl, the character of Milady de Winter doesn't make sense with that name, since she is supposed to have married an English lord after having been married to Athos as a young girl.  Also, it's not very believable that 14-year old boys would be made guards of the king!  Any young person who reads this and goes on to read the original Dumas is going to discoverer the many inconsistencies, which I just don't think were necessary.   And by turning the somewhat ordinary Greg into D'Artagnan, Gibbs eliminated one of the funniest and most memorable characters in the book, the young Gascon around whom the plot unfolds.

In short, while I enjoyed the concept of this story, I believe the execution could have been much better, simply by keeping more to the original outlines of Dumas' immortal characters.  Unfortunately, I don't think that Gibbs' changes to the basic characters really added to the story, but rather detracted from it.  It will be interesting to see if a sequel is in the making.

Has anyone seen the new 3-d Musketeer movie?  I haven't yet, discouraged by the terrible reviews!  My favorite film version is still the Richard Lester version with Michael York, Richard Chamberlain, Faye Dunaway, and others from 1973. Although this version made changes from the original, it was very much in the sprit of the original novel.

Book Review: Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln, by Patricia Polacco (G. P. Putnam, 2011)

Recommended for ages 8-12.


Beloved author-illustrator Patricia Polacco returns to the Civil War in her newest picture book aimed at older readers.  This story, suitable for upper-elementary school-aged children, follows two brothers, Michael and Derek, who visit the Harpers Ferry Civil War Museum with their grandmother.  Initially annoyed when their grandmother tells them that on this trip there will be "no music, no texting, no tweeting, no e-mailing," they decide that the Civil War was "way cool" when they see the guns and cannons in the museum.  Soon they have a chance to slip into some Union uniforms, and they're told by the eccentric museum director that when they step through a door, they'll find themselves in Antietam just after the battle.  It's a game, he tells them, and they're not allowed to tell anyone they're from 2011.  Also, they have to make sure to come back before sunset.

But when they pass through the door, they're ordered to help photographer Matthew Brady and his assistant, Gardner, who are there to photograph the battlefield and the President's meeting with General McClellan.  The boys can't help but wonder where on earth the game found an actor that looks so much like President Lincoln.  When the boys look with shock at all the dead bodies, they realize this is no game, and soon they are comforting President Lincoln himself, who is agonizing over all the death and destruction he sees.  Derek can't help himself--he tells Lincoln that the North will win, and that one day, a black man will be president!  Derek and Michael must rush to get back to the present, where their grandmother insists that they have participated in a reenactment, where groups act out important battles of the war.  But when the boys examine the photo of Lincoln and McClellan in the museum--they find a surprise that might validate their trip back in time.

contemporary cartoon of Lincoln

Patricia Polacco knows how to tell an engrossing story, and kids will certainly enjoy this time-travel story about two ordinary boys who wind up meeting President Lincoln and seeing one of the most devastating battles of the Civil War (Antietam was the single bloodiest day in the war, with almost 23,000 casualties).  Her signature style artwork, done in pencils and markers, of the battle scenes is particularly powerful (you can see many of the 2-page spreads from the book on Polacco's website), although the cover image of Lincoln brought to my mind how during his lifetime Lincoln was often called in his own day an ape, baboon or gorilla.  Somehow in Polacco's cover artwork Lincoln has more than a little bit of a chimp look about him, don't you think?

The book includes a brief bibliography and an author's note, in which Polacco gives additional details about the history of Antietam that are not covered in the story.  Most importantly, she describes how she plays a bit fast and loose with historical accuracy in this time-travel tale; for example, by the time Lincoln visited the battlefield, two weeks after the event, all the bodies would have long been gathered up by both sides for burial.  I will allow her some dramatic license to mold her story, although in general I don't like when authors of historical fiction change the timetable of actual events, since we can't be sure if the audience will actually read the author's note at the end of the book.

What do you think about historical fiction where the author plays with the timetable of events?  Please leave a comment below.

Book Review and Giveaway: Timeless, by Alexandra Monir (Delacorte, 2011)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Teens still seem to be devouring paranormal romances, and here's one without any vampires or werewolves but chock full of romantic star-crossed lovers that seems sure to be a hit with teen girls who enjoy books of this genre.  Alexandra Monir, a 25-year old debut novelist who is a professional singer-songwriter, has made use of her songwriting talents as well by weaving original music into the story, which can be purchased as an album (also called Timeless).

Michele Windsor is a happy, popular teenager living with her mother in Los Angeles--except that, since she was a little girl, she has recurring dreams about a mysterious handsome stranger "with eyes the color of sapphires...dressed like none of the other boys she knew." When a tragic accident forces her to move to New York to live with her wealthy, upper-crust society grandparents whom she has never met, she is dazzled at first by their enormous historic mansion, which she has a strange feeling she has seen before.  While the servants are kind, her grandparents are formal and reserved.

She is trying to cope with her mother's death and her new life when she finds a mysterious antique key left by her father to her mother, a key that allows her to travel back in time--to 1910 New York.  Somehow we are not too surprised to find that, while in 1910, she meets at a masquerade ball the handsome stranger of her dreams--Philip, the love of her life.  But as Michele goes back and forth from the present to the past, trying to juggle both her lives, she realizes that although she and Philip belong together, they can never actually be together, since neither can fully exist in the other's time.  Their love seems doomed--can she alter the past and save him before it's too late?

The star-crossed lovers theme of this novel is perennially popular, and the aching romanticism of the story should appeal greatly to teen readers and keep them turning the pages.  Teens will also appreciate the integral role that music as well as romance plays in this novel; our hero, Philip, is a gifted musician, but being a musician as a profession does not fit into his upper-crust family's career plans for him.  Michele, our heroine, writes music as well, and the two are soon collaborating on songs across the century, as she writes lyrics to his music. And you can purchase these songs on-line so the reader doesn't just have to imagine them in her head.

Alexandra Monir spent a year in New York researching and writing this novel, and does a credible job recreating the high society world of the Gilded Age.  Brief portions of the novel also take place in the Roaring Twenties and during World War II.  In an afterword, she cites some of the books used in her research, as well as sights of New York to visit for readers interested in these periods.  She also recommends visiting Newport, where many mansions from this period survive and are open to tours.

Timeless was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month for January 2011, and Monir is already at work on a sequel.

Alexandra's Timeless album cover art

You can find an interview with Alexandra about her book at Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm.

Giveaway:  To win a copy of this book for yourself or your library, please leave a comment with your e-mail and let me know what time period you'd like to travel to if you could travel back in time!  Winner will be selected at random on April 13, 2011.


Disclosure:  Review copy provided by publisher.

Time Travel Book Review: Warped, by Maurissa Guibord (Delacorte, 2011)

Debut author Maurissa Guibord's time travel novel has lots of elements likely to appeal to her target teen readers:  a gorgeous cover, plenty of romance, adventure, danger, humor, suspense, an evil witch, a handsome nobleman, a unicorn, dragon, giant snake, a quaint bookshop setting--and oh yes, time travel!  Well, I never said "realism" was one of the elements!

The story centers on Tessa, a "normal" teenage girl who discovers there's something weird about an old unicorn tapestry her bookseller father bought at an auction, mixed up in a box of old books.  The unicorn looks fierce, not like the cuddly rainbow ones of her girlhood, and when she's near it, she begins to have strange dreams of a hunt in a long-ago forest in a distant land.  But when she accidentally pulls a thread on the tapestry, a handsome young man appears--William de Chaucy--who's been under the enchantment of an evil witch for more than five centuries.  Their destinies are somehow linked together--and mixed up with the Fates, the three sisters who control the life threads of all humans.  Tessa must somehow return some missing threads--but can she do it and keep the irresistible William alive in the 21st century?

Teens who enjoy historical fantasy are likely to devour this juicy and fun read, which will answer many important questions, such as the following:  do charmingly arrogant 15th century noblemen like pizza?  You'll have to read this to get the answer, and to discover the many twists and turns in the book's plot.


Other blog reviews include:
A Backwards Story
Dreaming in Books
Life after Twilight
Teen Book Fanatics
The Allure of Books
Frenzy of Noise
Muggleborn.net
Young Adults Book Central

Disclosure:   Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review: George Washington's Spy: A Time Travel Adventure, by Elvira Woodruff (Scholastic, 2010) ISBN 978-0-545-10487-6

Recommended for ages 8-12.  


Looking for exciting time travel books for your young patrons or students who've read their way through the Magic Tree House, the Time Warp Trio, and others series of that ilk?  Elvira Woodruff's George Washington's Spy might just fit the bill for these readers.  A magic rowboat at a lake near their home sweeps fifth grader Matt, his annoying little sister Katie, and four friends from their Nebraska home back to 1776 Boston, where they land in a freezing and dark forest and their magic boat quickly disappears.  It's a dangerous time, with the British in Boston and George Washington and his troops trying to drive the British from the city.

The boys go to look for help for Katie, who has injured her foot, while the girls remain behind, but with the freezing weather, they must seek shelter when the boys do not quickly come back for them.  They are fortunate to be taken in by a kind woman, Mistress Hewson, and her young daughters, who, through a series of funny misunderstandings, believe that the girls are related to the British Earl of Essex.  They take the three girls into their home, where they try to blend in by acting "colonial."  They soon discover that the family who is so kind to them is a Loyalist family--enemies of George Washington and the Patriots!

And what has become of Matt and his friends?  They've been taken prisoner by a group of Patriots, where they meet Benjamin Franklin, and Matt is drawn into George Washington's spy network, complete with letters written in invisible ink, messages hidden in buttons and secret passwords.  Can Washington make the British Redcoats leave Boston, and will Matt, Katie, and their friends ever get back home?

The author does not shirk from exploring the complex politics of the time, when even Benjamin Franklin's own family was split, with his son siding with the Tories and the King.  Everything is not black and white, like the children thought from history class.  Mistress Hewson "may have been a Tory, but she acted like any other mother."  At the book's conclusion, the children ponder the moral complexities of the Revolution, wondering how good people like the Hewsons could be America's enemies.  "I thought choosing sides would be so simple, but it's not," remarks one of the girls.

While this title is a sequel to Woodruff's George Washington's Socks, there's no problem reading this one without having read the earlier book.  I particularly enjoyed how Woodruff weaves real historical figures into the story, including Washington (who makes a brief appearance toward the end) and Franklin.  In addition to offering plenty of suspense and adventure, the author fills her book with plenty of humorous details, such as the kids' repeated tries to get their cell phones to work in 1776 (out of range and no signal light up on the phone), their cravings for pizza, chocolate, and marshmallows, Benjamin Franklin trading his boots, with buckles made by Paul Revere, for the sneakers of one of the time-travelers, and the Hewson girls' fascination with nail polish and underpants,   But in addition to humor, we also see the harshness of the times, with prisoners in the stocks, smallpox epidemics, public floggings, a character being tarred and feathered, while another is hung for treason by the British.

Author's notes provide historical details on a number of topics, including Loyalists, colonial spies, and the Battle of Dorchester.  The book also includes a glossary of revolutionary-war vocabulary used in the book, as well as a brief bibliography.

This book would be an excellent choice for students interested in history, adventure stories, or time travel.  I can also imagine this book as a very fun and engaging read-aloud for teachers to use in the classroom.  Also, this book would be appropriate for children who are younger than 8 but who are advanced readers for their age.  And at 229 pages, this novel won't intimidate reluctant readers.

A teacher's guide can be found on the author's website.

Book Review: Wildwing, by Emily Whitman (Greenwillow Books, 2010)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.


Teenage fans of historical romance and time travel books are sure to love this new release by novelist Emily Whitman, whose first book, Radiant Darkness, was a #1 IndieBound pick.

Addy, a fifteen-year-old servant in 1913 England, dreams of a life she'll never have--a life of luxury, where people won't be constantly reminding her of her lowly place in society.  But when she finds a mysterious old elevator in the dusty attic of her eccentric employer, Mr. Greenwood, she can't help herself and goes inside--pushes the button--and winds up in the 13th century.

When she's mistaken for the lord of the castle's fiance, the noble Lady Matilda, ward of the king, Addy doesn't bother to correct anyone, and despite many faux-pas in the beginning, begins to enjoy her role as future lady of the manor.   Her fiance is away, and she is able to spend her time with the handsome young falconer, Will, "the lad with the eyes," learning to train Pilgrim, her very own falcon.  Will's beginnings are shrouded in mystery, since he showed up lost as a toddler, with no trace of his parents to be found, a mystery that will be solved by the end of the novel.  The reader is not surprised to find that Will and Addy fall in love, but what is our lovely heroine Addy/Matilda to do?  Sir Hugh is soon home, eager to wed Matilda, get her in his bed--and receive the generous dowry the king has promised to bestow on Matilda's husband.  Addy lives in fear that someone will recognize that she is not Matilda--should she try to take the lift back to her own time, leaving behind her beloved Will, the one she loves?

Whitman makes Addy a very appealing heroine, and this book is full of romance--not only the relationship between Addy and Will, but other elements of romance literature--from shipwrecks to dungeons to golden wedding gowns fit for a fairy princess.  The secondary characters in the book are lots of fun as well, including Beatrix, who serves as Lady Matilda/Addy's maid and reminded me of the nurse in Romeo and Juliet with her earthy ways.  Lord Hugh, Lady Matilda's fiance, is a blustering warrior, a contrast to the gentle Will who coaxes falcons--and young girls--to do his bidding.  The story has its share of surprising twists to keep the reader turning the pages, which culminate in the requisite happy ending (at least for this genre!)

This book would be a good addition to school and public libraries as well as a very entertaining read for any teens or even adults who enjoy historical romances.  The gorgeous cover should help attract teen readers (for more on the cover shoot, check out this link), who I'm convinced with be quickly engaged by Addy's story when they start reading.

If you would like to sample the first few chapters of this book, you can do so on Harper Collins website.

Book Review: On the Blue Comet, by Rosemary Wells (Candlewick, 2010)

Recommended for ages 8 through 12.  


Fans of time travel books and trains should love acclaimed picture-book author and novelist Rosemary Wells' newest release.  In this exciting story, eleven-year-old Oscar has a good life in Cairo, Illinois, even though his mom died when he was little.  He and his dad manage just fine, thank you; Oscar cooks supper after school, does his homework, and after his dad comes home from work, they work on their elaborate Lionel model train world in their basement.

But when the stock market crashes, the Depression follows, and soon Oscar's dad loses his job selling tractors. They lose their house, too--including the model train collection--and his father has to go to California to look for work, leaving Oscar with his no-nonsense aunt Carmen.  Oliver's loneliness for a father figure leads him to a friendship with a mysterious vagrant, Mr. Applegate; Oscar feeds Mr. Applegate pancakes, and Mr. Applegate not only helps him with his math homework, but also talks to him about Professor Einstein and the possibility of time travel, and even teaches him poetry.

Oscar soon discovers that his beloved Lionel trains are on exhibit at the local bank--the same one that re-possessed their home.  While visiting the trains at the bank, he witnesses a horrible bank robbery--one that propels him literally forward in time, through the Lionel trains. Will he ever get back again to be reunited with his father?

Rosemary Wells has written a highly imaginative and well-executed novel that will appeal to children who like time travel and fantasy stories; Wells incorporate plenty of history into the story as well, as Oscar travels in time from the middle of the Depression to the beginning of World War II and back even to 1926.  The book is sure to appeal to train lovers as well; while Lionel trains may not be as widely known as they were at one time, this book would be a logical step up for children who loved Thomas The Tank Engine in their pre-school days, as the different trains play a substantial role in the story and are lovingly described by Wells.

In his time travels, Oscar meets many famous people, including a very young Ronald Reagan, identified only as "Dutch,"  Alfred Hitchcock, Joe Kennedy, and J.P. Morgan, among others.  The children reading the novel may not be able to pick up on these references, however; the book would have been enriched by an Author's Note providing a bit of biographical information on the real-life historical people who interact with Oscar throughout the story.

The novel is illustrated with stunning acrylic gouache paintings by acclaimed illustrator Bagram Ibatoulline, whose many works include The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  The nostalgic, realistic style of the illustrations evokes period artwork by Norman Rockwell, and fits in well with the Depression-era setting of the book.

You can download a discussion guide for this novel from Candlewick's website, as well as read a sample chapter.  

Book Review: Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly (Delacorte Books, 2010)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.


Jennifer Donnelly's newest novel weaves a spell on its readers with its riveting genre-busting blend of realistic contemporary young adult fiction, historical fiction, and even some paranormal fiction tossed in the mix.  It's the story of two fascinating young women, Andi and Alex, who live more than two centuries apart, but whose lives intersect at the close of this compelling tale.


We start out meeting Andi, a brilliant but very troubled high school senior who attends a ritzy prep school in Brooklyn; an incredibly gifted guitarist who lives for music, she is in a deep depression, tottering on the edge of suicide despite psychiatrists and pills, since the death of her younger brother, Truman, a death she feels responsible for.  Her parents' marriage has fallen apart; her father's a Nobel-prize winning geneticist responsible for unraveling the mysteries of the human genome, while her mother is a talented French artist who paints non-stop to cope with her young son's death.  When her father says she's going with him to Paris over Christmas break, she's not happy about it, but goes along to start researching her senior thesis about an 18th century French composer and guitarist.  Her father is called to Paris to analyze the DNA of an old heart believed to belong to Louis Charles, Dauphin of France and son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who was believed to have died in the Tower during the French Revolution.  Some believed the young boy might have escaped, and Andi's father and his historian friends intend to put the mystery to rest with 21st century technology.

This all seems to have little to do with Andi and her problems, until, hidden in an old guitar case, Andi finds a portrait--one that looks much like her brother, but was clearly painted long ago.  In the case is also an old diary, dated April 1795.  This is the diary of Alex, who talks about a prisoner in a tower...sure enough, the portrait is of Louis-Charles, the Dauphin.  Reading the diary, Andi discovers the life of Alex, a young actress who dreams of a career on the stage, but through a twist of fate, becomes a companion to Louis-Charles at Versailles and later in Paris.  Through her diary, we experience the progression of the French Revolution, the hope and then the despair as Robespierre and the Jacobins launch the Terror.  Alex's love for the Dauphin, taken forcibly from his mother to be educated as a "good Revolutionary," causes her to endanger her own life to try to free Louis Charles, and finally, to provide the abandoned prince with some hope and light.

Andi's contemporary voice is interrupted with excerpts from Alex's diary, which we read along with Andi as she becomes more and more drawn in to the diary.  Donnelly skillfully creates distinct voices for both characters which suit their personalities and time periods.

All teen novels seem to need at least a bit of romance, and in this novel we have a relationship between Andi and a handsome young French guitarist and rapper whom she meets while performing on the street.  This character, who is of North African background, adds another element to this rich story, as Donnelly touches on the racism and poverty of these immigrants who live largely in housing projects in the Paris suburbs.  But when Virgil takes Andi to a party in the depths of the Paris catacombs, she meets a "hot goth" guitarist, who leads her into a part of the catacombs where tourists can't go.  When they exit the catacombs, things get really strange--"the men all have ponytails.  All of them."

It turns out Andi has wound up in the Paris of the Revolution, with the very musician whom she is researching for her thesis.  But is she Andi, or Alex?  And will she be able to get back to her 21st century life?

This is such a fascinating novel on so many levels, and its blend of different genres should make it an easy sell to students who might not usually pick up a historical novel.  Not only are both girls great characters, Donnelly melds the stories together in a highly creative way.  When I first started the novel, I wasn't sure if the two-story approach was going to work, but I was entirely convinced by the end.

For those who enjoy this book, a great novel to pair with Revolution would be The Bad Queen:  Rules and Instructions for Marie Antoinette, by Carolyn Meyer (Harcourt, 2010).  For teens willing to tackle a longer book, Abundance:  A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund (William Morrow, 2006), is an engrossing fictional "diary" of the queen.  

Although the French Revolution is one of the most written about subjects in history, there don't seem to be a plethora of excellent non-fiction books about the subject written for young people here in the U.S.  Some of the more promising titles include:

Marie Antoinette, and the Decline of the French Monarchy, by Nancy Lotz (Morgan Reynolds, 2004) and
Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the French Revolution by Nancy Plain (Marshall Cavendish, 2001).

However, there are several excellent documentaries that are available from libraries or Netflix:  I would particularly recommend The French Revolution, a History Channel Documentary from 2005, which provides a good overview of the revolutionary period, or for more on the doomed royal family, Marie Antoinette:  A Film by David Gruber (2006), available from PBS Video.  Teens might also enjoy the 2006 Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette (which includes only the early days of the revolution, ending when the royal family leaves Versailles).


Release Date:  October 12, 2010