Calico Captive

Title: Calico Captive
Author: Elizabeth George Speare
(C)1957
Publisher:Yearling
ISBN:0-440-41156-4
274 pp.

Here's an interesting tidbit. Did you know this was Elizabeth George Speare's first historical fiction novel for children? It was! Did you also know that her books are so widely popular that many of them are still required reading in elementary and middle grade classrooms?

I thought that was very interesting. I remember reading some of her other books in school. The Witch of Blackbird Pond comes to mind.

If you have any interest in the French-Indian War, then this would be a good book to pick up. It is the imagined story of one, Miriam Willard. She and her sister, Susanna Johnson, and her sister's family were all taken captive by a group of natives and forced to march overland from Charleston into Canada. They stayed for a short while in St. Francis and were eventually sold to the French in Montreal.

I had no idea that the French were actually paying for English prisoners at that time. Sometimes they would be kept as slaves and servants, other times, they could be redeemed by the government. The story follows what might have happened to Miriam. We do know for certain that she was sold in Montreal, separated from her sister, her brother-in-law, and her two nieces.

We also know that eventually the family was released and sailed on a ship for Plymouth in England. From there they made their way back to America. We also know that she eventually married Phineas Whitney. All of these things are recorded for us in historical records, including the narrative that her sister penned, not long after their return.

I think that is what draws me to historical fiction. It takes facts and tells what might have happened in and around the information supplied in those records. There's always a bit of mystery there. I wouldn't say that Miriam's story was particularly fascinating, until you start looking up the other facts that surround this time period and you begin to imagine what life was like back then. Once I started looking at the timeline, I couldn't put the book down. I had to know what would happen to her and the rest of the family, each of them separated without much hope of being released from their captivity.

I hope you take the time to look into this book and other historical fiction novels. You might be surprised at what you learn.

The Angel of Death

Title: The Angel of Death
Author: Alane Ferguson
(C)2008
Publisher: Puffin
ISBN: 978-0-1424-1087-5
272 pp.

The Angel of Death is the second forensic murder mystery starring Cameryn Mahoney, a a teenage coroner's assistant. Now you're probably wondering how a teenager could be an assistant, but if you consider the fact that they live in a very tiny town surrounded by the mountains, and the fact that her father is the town's coroner, then it doesn't seem so strange.

Cammie, at 17, is dead set (pardon the pun) on going into forensic science...even after the grisly discovery of her favorite English teacher, murdered in his bed.

As the story progresses, the case grows colder while her relationship with one Kyle O' Neil heats up. Did I mention that Kyle is the one who found the body? Or that the body had been partially cooked?

Ms. Ferguson has done an extraordinary amount of research and it shows in the details of the crime scene and the autopsy. Part of me wanted to skip over these sections but there was a clinical side of my brain held captive, trying to piece together the answers before they were revealed.

If you're a fan of CSI, Criminal Minds, or just about any of the crime dramas on TV, then you'll enjoy this book.