Girls Girls Girls (at varying points in history)

I've been travelling through time lately. First stop - Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Girls didn’t get much attention or respect in 1692 and in Puritan New England, they had relatively little freedom too. But, apparently, if you begin having “visions” and become possessed by evil spirits sent to you by witches – you get a whole lot more respect from your parents and neighbors. At least that is according to Stephanie Hemphill, who wrote Wicked Girls: A novel of the Salem Witch Trials. While historians don’t exactly know why the girls pretended to be “afflicted” in this book Hemphill gives the teenaged accusers some very believable motives like romantic jealousy, boredom, longing for attention or affection. The book is told in verse and each poem is from a different accuser’s perspective. The novel follows true events and it is easy to see how these olden-day “mean girls” could have created a very dangerous scheme. Back matter gives more information on the real accuser’s lives as well as what happened to those they accused of witchcraft.

Next stop – London, 1836. If girls in Salem Mass. didn’t get much respect, it wasn’t any easier in London 140 years later! In Prisoners in the Palace: How Victoria Became Queen with the Help of Her Maid, A Reporter, and A Scoundrel: A Novel of Intrigue and Romance by Machaela MacColl,  Elizabeth Hastings lives very comfortably with her parents in Munich but they travel all around the world for her father’s trade business. Liza is devastated however, when her parents are killed in a tragic carriage accident in London. With no money and no connections in London, Liza is desperate to find suitable work for herself. She lucks out and finds a job as Princess Victoria’s maid at Kensington Palace. Victoria has been sheltered and over-protected her whole life by her mother and a greedy family friend. The King is quite ill and Victoria may become Queen very soon. Liza’s job is to help keep Princess Victoria protected from the greedy Sir John, and keep Victoria entertained. This isn’t easy though. Victoria can be a spoiled brat and Sir John is a very dangerous man. Liza does what she can though, meeting some very interesting people along the way like Inside Boy Jones (who secretly lives inside the palace) and handsome Will, who published broadsheets (an early version of a newspaper). There is plenty of danger, secret messages, disguises, hope, fear and love in this story. I really enjoyed it.



Back to the future: Modern Day America. In Robin Brande’s Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature, Mena is starting high school totally ostracized from her former friends and everyone she knows from church for blowing the whistle on the Youth Group’s plan to harass and bully a gay teen all in the name of “saving him.” When law suits are filed, Mena and her family are targets of harassment themselves. Now Mena is starting the new year with a potential new friend in biology class. But when the teacher starts teaching evolution, Mena in the middle of more drama with the church kids when they start protesting the evolution unit, and demand equal time for a unit on intelligent design. When I first started this, I thought “oh no, here we go. This is going to be one of those predictable novels that are just an excuse for the author to share their own opinions.” But, I am happy to say I was wrong. While the novel is fairly predictable, the characters are real and the complex issues of faith are handled very well, making what could be over-the-top stereotypes seem more like actual people . The minister and his treatment of Mena and her family though are simply evil though. Not a lot of dimension with this character. I hope there are no ministers in this country (or anywhere else) who are actually that bad! Not my favorite of these books this round, but entertaining enough.

Same time, Florida USA. Scat is another of Carl Hiaasen’s ecological novels with greedy businessmen, crooked swindlers, and some good hearted kids trying to save the day. When the very mean biology teacher mysteriously disappears while on a field trip, at first the kids are happy to have substitute teachers. But when she doesn’t return after a few days, Nick and Marta get curious. In their investigation of what happened to their teacher the two friends stumble upon a scheme to exploit the natural habitat of the endangered panther by greedy oilmen. Nick, Marta, a hoodlum from school named Smoke and a few new friends do what they can to save the panther and her kittens. This one is so similar in feel to Hiaasen’s other YA books and he’s not great at character development, but this is an entertaining story nonetheless.

For some shorter stories… The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi is a sweet story that highlights that it is our differences make us fabulous! When Unhei moves from Korea to the United States she worries because her classmates have trouble pronouncing her name. She decides that maybe she’ll pick her own name that is easier to say. Her classmates make lots of suggestions and put them in a jar so Unhei can review them. In the end though, Unhei decides that her own Korean name is perfect and that she’s good enough just as she is.

One last one (about a boy): The Empty Pot by Demi is such a good book! The Emperor of China announces an unusual test to decide who will succeed him. He gives all the children in China seeds to grow and tells them to bring their flowers to the palace next year. Ping is normally a wonderful gardener, but he cannot get his seed from the emperor to grow. Very ashamed, Ping brings his empty pot to the palace on the appointed day to show the Emperor. When he gets there Ping is dismayed to see all the beautiful flowers of the other children. But the Emperor is most pleased with Ping’s pot since he knows that all the seeds he gave had been cooked, therefore none of them could produce flowers. Ping was the only honest person in the group. A wonderful story, beautifully illustrated.