Sterling Bridge Book Review

** Don't forget about my Favorite Things Giveaway! **I received a free copy of this novel from Cedar Fort Publishing & Media in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 
I was excited to read a sports book! I've been told time and time again by different sites, professors, articles, etc, that teachers need more sports books for boys to relate to. So, although I don't really like most sports movies or books, I decided to try it out.

Sterling Bridge by Chad Robert Parker is a historical fiction that is very reminiscent of Remember the Titans. It takes place in the 1920s in Tooelee, Utah. Tooelee (too-el-ah) is still a very small town today--it began as a mining town for all the copper and silver mines in the mountains in the west of Salt Lake Valley. In the 1920s, the last of the original Mormon pioneers were beginning to die off, but their descendants still harbored a distrust and prejudice against non-Mormons (I can't really blame them due to how the early Mormons were treated), but many non-Mormons and immigrants began settling in Utah to work int he mines. Part of the 7th grade history Utah Studies curriculum is to teach students about the impact of the immigrants and different cultures that settled Utah. The year I taught it, I had my students do a big multi-cultural heritage project and they loved learning more about their ancestors and their cultural heritage.  In this book, Tooelee is a divided town--Old Town and New Town...divided between original pioneer settlers and the migrants/immigrants. The narrator is 14 year old Joe Lacey. He meets Sterling Harris (a real man), a Mormon from another Utah city who is a football coach. Harris brings together both Old Town and New Town, immigrant and pioneer descendant, Mormon and non-Mormon into a rag-tag team. He creates unity with the boys and brings unity to the town.    I was honestly a little disappointed with this book. This was Parker's first novel published, so I have to give him some lax, but I honestly didn't think it was well-written. It is a little confusing to follow the events. Parker has this whole world perfectly set up in his mind and he knows the history so well, but narrating it to us was a little difficult. I also realize that Parker is a Mormon author and Cedar Fort's target audience is the Mormon community, but I think the book would have done better with less detail and plot of the Mormon church. I mean, difference of religion is a big topic, but the book could relate to other people like Remember the Titans did by focusing on the fact of different cultures coming together to be stronger.
Buy the book here: Barnes & Noble // Amazon
Find out more about the author here: website

Project Read You Classroom Shelves #3

It's been a while since I did one of these, and to be honest, I haven't been making my way through the novels as quick as I would've hoped. But, I hit a rough patch with some of them that I just wasn't interested in, so it made it a little harder to continue reading.

White Sand, Red Menace by Ellen Klages

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Dewey and Suze are a little odd because they love physics and mechanics. Their parents helped work on the Manhattan Project and now the war is over. Dewey's dad has died, so she now lives with Suze's family and they moved to the middle of nowhere where the government is doing experiments with rockets and missiles. This book is basically a daily slice of life with them adjusting to a new city, 1940s gender stereotypes, racism against Hispanics, and Dewey's personal past. I actually didn't realize this was a sequel until near the end! I got a little bored because there wasn't a lot of plot (the main plot didn't really begin until about the last 1/3 of the book) nor do I really relate to the protagonists as I don't care about physics or mechanics. But, I think it is wonderful that there is a book for girls interested in hard sciences!

Where I'd Like to Be by Frances O'Roark Dowell

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Maddie is in the foster care system. She grew up with her Granny Lane claiming that she was saved as a baby by a ghost. She loves to collect pictures of people and houses in notebooks and makes stories up for them. A new girl named Murphy came to the Children's Home and turned Maddie's world into one of hopes and dreams. They, and some other friends, build a little fort that becomes their special place, their home and Maddie begins to understand more about people she cares for and where she'd like to be. This is an easy read...it could very well be for later elementary school. It was simple, yet deep at the same time. This would be a perfect read for students or children who have been in the system before.

Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle

Via

This is another very easy read...more for Elementary than Jr. High. Young Hillary has been intrigued by the different, quiet, anti-social, sometimes temperamental Sarah-Kate who is two years older, but only one grade higher. They happen to be neighbors and in Sarah-Kate's over-grown, wild backyard, there is an elf village. Hillary is entranced and wants to know more, but her curiosity leads her to discover the sad truth about Sarah-Kate's personal and family life. She learns that elves aren't always as they seem. I really liked this book, it was cute, but deep, and the way that Hillary's eyes began to open though Sarah-Kate's uniqueness was brilliant. 

Which ones seemed interesting to you?

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The Pharaoh's Daughter

I have always been interested in Ancient Egypt. I remember as an Elementary school student seriously considering becoming an Egyptologist. I loved learning about Cleopatra, the New Kingdom, the connections in the Old Testament, etc.

I love all the different versions of the Moses story, both movies (especially Prince of Egypt) and novels.

So, when I saw the cover of The Pharaoh's Daughter and read the back, I was instantly excited to read it.

Isn't that cover art absolutely stunningly beautiful?

The Pharaoh's Daughter is written by Mesu Andrews, a Christian author. She did her research on Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament to write this first of a series called Treasures of the Nile.

This novel follows Anippe, the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who is also sister of Pharaoh Tut, and is the woman who picked Moses out of the reed basket on the Nile. It follows her story from her childhood, to her first marriage, saving Moses, raising him, making friends with Miriam and other Hebrews, dealing with her emotionally challenged sister, and the Civil War that ensued after Tut's death.

I absolutely loved it! I loved how Anippe wasn't a strong-hearted protagonist. I love how Mesu Andrews entwined her imagination with her research. The story was compelling, always keeping a feeling of tension (as would be necessary with dealing with Pharaohs and Hebrew slaves)! Although the novel seemed to close (sort of) for Anippe, it was before Moses killed the Egyptian that began his journey to being a prophet. Which means that it must happen during the 2nd installment, which will focus on Miriam...and doesn't come out until 2016!

Sigh.

I devoured this book, and it's been a long time since that has happened to me! One night, I even stayed up until 2AM reading it!

I definitely recommend this series! So good!

You can purchase the novel physically or via ebook here.
For more on Mesu Andrews and the novels she's read, click here.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.*

Would you be interested in reading this novel? Why or why not?

Book Review: These Is My Words

I received These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner as a prize in a giveaway last summer. I read it over Christmas Break and liked it a lot.

This is the "journal" of Sarah Agnes Prine, the protagonist. As an older teen, her family decided to move from one southwestern territory to another. However, many bad events happened upon their wagon train and they turned around. They settled near Tucson, and she hoped to never see the rude, arrogant Captain Elliot again. She married a childhood friend, but after she gave birth, he died revealing the secret that he never loved her. After a year or so, Captain Elliot happened to be injured near her home and she nursed him back to health. He courted her and they eventually married. The rest of the story goes through their adventures of husband and wife, with Sarah dealing with motherhood and other mishaps that happen to her siblings' families, all the while worrying about Captain Elliot as he goes off fighting outlaws and Indians. Finally, he decides to quit and become the Fire Chief. The story ends with their youngest dying of Scarlet Fever, Captain Elliot dying from a fighting a fire, and Sarah's oldest daughter running away and eloping...but on a positive, hopeful note.

I will be pretty honest...the first about 100 pages were pretty boring, and honestly, poor writing. Sarah was uneducated, trying to teach herself proper spelling and grammar. And, every stereotypical bad thing that could happen to a wagon train or trying to settle in the South West happened to her and her family. A few parts were a little contrived. But, as Sarah grew older and more educated, it became better. Still, a lot of stereotypical events of that time period of the Golden Age of the West appeared in the book. But, she got a lot of character growth as she grew older as a mom and wife. Captain Elliot also got a lot of character growth as well.

As I read the postscripts, it was revealed that this character and some of her stories were based on an ancestor of the author. She had begun the novel as a short story influenced by her great-grandmother and did more family history and expanded it to become a novel. She makes sure to mention that it is fiction and she made up a few characters and events because she didn't have all the details and didn't want to accidentally insult family members or memories of family members. So, she says it is fiction, not historical fiction or biography.

Overall, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Do you like historical fiction, journal-style novels, or having the setting placed in the Old West?

Lady of the Rivers Book Review

Did you know Princess Kate Middleton was not the first non-noble wife of the heir to the throne of England? No.

Back in 1464, the newly crowned King Edward IV, head of the House of York, crowned by Parliament (when the head of the House of Lancaster, Henry VI, still had the crown on his head) married a woman named Elizabeth Woodville Grey.

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Elizabeth had recently been widowed when her husband John Grey died in battle (this is the same Grey family from where Lady Jane Grey, the 9 Day Queen, would stake her claim). The Greys were a rich and powerful family, and barely noble. But, Elizabeth's mother-in-law never gave her her dower. Thus, she when she was widowed, she was still the daughter of a squire.

But, although Elizabeth's story is very intriguing (I'd recommend this book to learn about her and other queens during the War of the Roses and the Tudor Reign), it is her mother's story that I never knew of.

Elizabeth's mother was Jacquetta of Luxembourg, from the wealthy, powerful family in British-held France. She first was married to John of Lancaster, the Duke of Bedford, but he was older and died shortly after. She then "disgraced" herself by marrying below her--she married her late husband's squire, Richard Woodville.

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I never knew about her until I read Philippa Gregory's book, The Lady of the Rivers. I am very intrigued by Gregory's books. (For those who don't know her, she wrote The Other Boleyn Girl.) Gregory is a medieval historian who specializes in the Tudor Reign and she writes historical fiction about the women of that time. That's why I love her (even though I've only read two of her novels)--because that is exactly what I love and what to eventually do!

Via

Well, while Gregory was researching Jacquetta's life, she found that Jacquetta was eventually accused of witchcraft and that her family had a legend of a French water goddess name Melusina being their ancestor. So, this story, although very historical (and true to the history), adds a touch of the supernatural. There is alchemy, herbology, and scrying in it. At first, I wasn't too sure how I felt about that, but I came to enjoy it as it would make sense with the medieval mentality.

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I loved getting to know Gregory's interpretation of the characters and her explanation for Henry VI's descent into madness. The tender language she uses to describe the love between Jacquetta and Richard is astounding. It's also pretty clean (if you are hesitant because of The Other Boleyn Girl). I also absolutely loved the character of Richard Woodville. Such a prince charming! Very chivalrous, so in love with Jacquetta, a great leader, very loyal. He's quite the man!

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One thing that I didn't like about this book was how quickly it skipped to different parts of her life. It began when Jacquetta was a young teenager and her family was holding Joan of Arc in their castle before her trial. (That chapter was very intriguing!) And it ends with Jacquetta in her 40s and her daughter, Elizabeth, just meeting Edward IV. I understand that Gregory wrote it as a historical fiction and was trying to show the background and the set up of the War of the Roses, but I thought some parts of the book weren't fleshed out too well.

But, I know I really enjoyed it because now I want to skip my other novels in waiting and read all the history books I bought on the Tudors and that time period!
The Lady of the Rivers is part of Gregory's series The Cousin's War, which is all about the women in power during the War of the Roses. One of them is The White Queen, which is about Elizabeth Woodville as queen. I found out that STARZ now has a series based off that book. I kind of want to watch it now!

If you like history, especially British history, I definitely recommend this novel to you!