Best Teen & Young Adult United States Biographical Fiction
The classic story of Abbie and Will Deal—pioneers who left everything behind for a new life on America’s frontier. Aldrich’s pioneer woman was based on her mother, and the integrity of her depiction of life in a sod house in the late nineteeth-century Nebraska speaks to her readers. In her own introduction Aldrich writes of wanting to tell her mother’s story after her mother’s death: ‘Other writers had depicted the Midwest’s early days, but so often they had pictured their women as gaunt, browbeaten creatures, despairing women whom life seemed to defeat.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"You that are not familiar with the Pioneers that came to Nebraska early on will enjoy and be amazed at all they went through during those early years."
"Told by a woman who was willing to follow her husband from the comfort of civilization to the unknown and isolated life in the Great Plains of Nebraska in the 1800s."
"Unfortunately, the formatting puts only a few words on each line which makes it hard to read smoothly and leads to a lot of page turning!"
"I wanted to read it again as part of a reading challenge."
"I first read this book in High School and loved it...I also read other books by this Author because I enjoyed the simplicity with which she wrote."
"A story that any woman who has gone through some "life" will relate in many ways."
"This lovely story is like an operetta defining life on an unsettled prairie."
"A nice story about a pioneer family and the beginnings of Nebraska as a state and the perils that they all endured."
In the months and years that follow during the late 1950s-early 1960s, Francisco, his mother and father, and his seven brothers and sister not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice. The clash of cultures between teen insolence in the U.S. and Mexican respect for elders' authority is vividly portrayed, as is the injustice and casual bigotry often endured by young and old. Rock 'n' roll, Kennedy versus Nixon, the old-boy network of service clubs, the humiliation of deportation, and the painful struggle to have the right clothes are among the pieces of that world that readers see with a startling clarity from a new perspective.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Nonetheless, you aren't lost if you start with *Breaking Through* I loved this memoir because it was one of the best portrayal of a migrant family. This memoir chronicled the life of Francisco Jimenez from the time that him and his family entered America from Mexico to his entrance into college. Despite living in the land of freedom and opportunities, the family has to work hard in order to survive. Coming from a Hispanic family, I found myself nodding and taking strolls in memory lane."
"I love this book and didn't want it to end."
"Everyone should be required to read this book."
"Bought this book for English as Second Language class, it is a great book, if you are a person who love real life books, this is one of the best!"
"Breaking Through was very entertaining."
"These books by Jimenez are like gold in the hands of my 6th-8th graders."
"The stories shared in this book are so important for students to read and discuss with classmates."
"As children we never endured his pains and turmoil but you could feel all his emotions through his writing...great great book."
I was supposed to be having the time of my life. The Bell Jar tells the story of a gifted young woman's mental breakdown beginning during a summer internship as a junior editor at a magazine in New York City in the early 1950s.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I haven't read anything by this author before and I enjoyed reading the character's account of her downward spiral into mental illness and hospital stay."
"Very powerful story and I especially appreciated the authors' skill in delivering it all in a first person narrative without succumbing to the need to explain things that the main character understands intuitively."
"Although the narrator in the novel (based on Sylvia Plath) comes across as a somewhat selfish and conniving person even before her nervous breakdown/descent into madness or full blown personality disorder, her insightful observations and descriptions go a long way in excusing her lack of empathy for others."
"A classic!"
"A beautiful and haunting picture of a struggle with crippling depression(maybe even a little mania/bipolar as well."
"An amazing book."
"Knowing that this story is also a subtle autobiography of Plath's life makes it all the more tragic."
"Can be a tough read to keep up with the transitions from memory to memory but absolutely worth it!"
Best Teen & Young Adult European Biographical Fiction
The story of Mary Tudor's childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is to. inherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by an evil. stepmother who has enchanted her father; stripped of her title; and forced to. care for her baby stepsister, who inherits Mary's rights to the throne. Teen fans of the movie Elizabeth will be fascinated with the pomp and sinister intrigue of Mary, Bloody Mary , an engrossing story about the teen years of Mary Tudor, half sister to Queen Elizabeth and daughter to Henry VIII. As the king grows ever colder, Mary is banished to a distant house, forbidden from seeing her mother, left to wear rags, and finally--at Anne's bidding--summoned back to court to be a servant to her baby half sister Elizabeth.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Anne Boleyn was not executed on the same day as her convicted "lovers" or in the same place, the men meeting their end on Tower Hill outside of the Tower precincts. I would have liked to see more of Anne Boleyn in the story, especially face to face with Mary but all in all, this biographical novel is well done.I am not the proper audience for it, however, and judging from the other reviews, "Mary, Bloody Mary" was well-received by most of the reviewers."
"Most people consider Mary the bloodiest queen in English history, and many people have dubbed her awful names like "the killer queen," but I've never bought those lies. It is a great introspective look on "what could've happened" built around the facts we know, and that makes this a truly enjoyable and riveting book."
"I got sucked into the book's world and was sad to see the end of this book come."
"Still, I would recommend the book. Very happy the book and seller."
"The american indian lore, and that of most of Africa, grows real through the telling and imagination of the story teller. Carolyn Meyer has taken the skeletal facts and woven wonderful story from much of her own imagination, telling the story through the eyes of a very young girl, born a princess, in sixteenth century England. This young princess sweeps through the magnificent highs of the utmost luxury of the time to the lowest station of a threatened servant."
"I really loved the history and the easy read this series was."
"Product arrived timely and as described."