Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: Take a Bow
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publication: Scholastic, hardcover, 2012
Genre: Young Adult
Setting: New York

Description: Emme, Sophie, Carter and Ethan are seniors at an exclusive performing arts high school in New York. Emme is a talented songwriter whose songs are usually performed by her friend Sophie.

WWW Wednesday – April 27, 2022

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

Tonight I started a book called Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg about four friends who are students (or rivals) at a performing arts high school in New York. It has all the drama of Glee but the characters seem more believable. I enjoyed the author’s Prom & Prejudice several years ago.

I am also reading The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay as I hope to visit Bletchley Park in June.

Highland Rebel by Sally Watson #1954Club

Title: Highland Rebel
Author: Sally Watson
Illustrator: Scott Maclain
Publication: Image Cascade, paperback, originally published in 1954
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: Scotland, 1745

Description: Lauren Cameron may be a girl in a family of claymore wielding Scottish warriors but she knows how to use a rapier and dreams of defending Bonnie Prince Charlie and fighting the British.

The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron #1954Club

Title: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
Author: Eleanor Cameron
Publication: Little, Brown & Company, hardcover, 1954
Genre: Juvenile fantasy
Setting: 20th century California

This review is for the #1954Club, hosted by StuckinaBook and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, in which bloggers are invited to read and review books that were published in a chosen year.

Description: David Topman is reading Dr. Doolittle in the Moon when his father sees a notice in the newspaper:

WANTED: A small space ship about eight feet long, built by a boy or two boys, between the ages of eight and eleven.

The Native Heath by Elizabeth Fair #1954Club

Title: The Native Heath
Author: Elizabeth Fair
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow, Dean Street Press, paperback, originally published in 1954
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century Northern England

Description: Julia Dunstan, a recent widow of a certain age, is delighted to learn she has inherited her uncle’s home, Belmont House, in the village of Goatstock.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis #1954Club #Narniathon21

Title: The Horse and His Boy
Author: C.S. Lewis
Publication: Puffin, paperback, originally published in 1954
Genre: Juvenile fantasy/series
Setting: South of Narnia

Description: Shasta, a poor fisherman’s son in Calormen, Narnia’s traditional frenemy, is used to the abuse he gets from his alleged father, Arsheesh, but when a Tarkaan (great lord) demands hospitality and offers to purchase Shasta, he is afraid it might be out of the frying pan, into the fire.

The Cuckoo in Spring by Elizabeth Cadell #1954Club

Title: The Cuckoo in Spring
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: Thorndike Press, hardcover, 1954
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century England

This review is for the #1954Club, hosted by StuckinaBook and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, in which bloggers are invited to read and review books that were published in a specific year.

Description: Edwin Hurst and his son, Oliver, solicitors, have an eccentric client in Yorkshire who wants his paintings valued. They persuade Oliver’s brother Julian, an art dealer, to undertake the project, which Julian does only because there might be something worthwhile and because he plans to visit his godmother in Scotland afterward for a lively house party.

The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston #1954Club

Title: The Children of Green Knowe
Author: L.M. Boston
Illustrator: Peter Boston
Publication: Harcourt, paperback, originally published in 1954
Genre: Children’s fantasy
Setting: 20th century Cambridgeshire

Description: As the story begins, Toseland is on a train (alone at 7 years old; times have certainly changed) going to visit his great-grandmother after the autumn term at school. It is December and there is flooding at the station: he is picked up by taxi but then taken by boat by the family retainer, Boggis, to a manor house that is lit up against the darkness.

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff #1954Club

This is a special guest review of The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff for the #1954Club, hosted by StuckinaBook and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, from my mother, Stephanie Martin, in honor of one of her favorite authors:

When I made my long-anticipated visit to Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, I knew a lot about the history and archaeology of the area, but I wasn’t thinking about any of that. My mind was focused on a young Roman soldier named Marcus whom I had read about years before. And that goes to show that when Rosemary Sutcliff’s characters get a grip on you, they never let go.

I’m Deborah Sampson by Patricia Clapp

Title: I’m Deborah Sampson
Author: Patricia Clapp
Publication: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., hardcover, 1977
Genre: Juvenile historical fiction
Setting: 18th century Massachusetts and New York

Description: In this historical novel about Deborah Sampson, the Massachusetts native who famously disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War, Clapp provides a convincing background for Sampson’s decision to enlist and her ability to carry out such an improbable undertaking.

Spell the Month in Books – April 2022

Spell the Month in Books is the creation of Reviews From the Stacks and usually occurs on the second Saturday of each month, so I am late but intrigued:

Murder in Three Acts by Agatha Christie

Title: Murder in Three Acts (US title), aka Three Act Tragedy (UK title)
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Dodd, Mead & Co., hardcover, 1934
Genre: Mystery
Setting: 20th century Great Britain

Description: Sir Charles Cartwright is a retired actor who has built a charming home in Cornwall where he enjoys entertaining.  At a house party that includes guests from London as well as locals, his secretary warns the group will be 13 at dinner unless she joins them.

It's Better to Be Feared by Seth Wickersham

Title: It’s Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness
Author: Seth Wickersham
Publication: W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Sports/Nonfiction

Description: Wickersham, a writer for ESPN, has chronicled the story of the Patriots football team from 2001 when Tom Brady became its quarterback through 2020 when he left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During that time frame and through the Patriots’ success, many speculated whether Tom and his dour coach, Bill Belichick, were successful because of each other and how each would fare if on his own.

My March 2022 Reads

Children’s Books

Which Way is Home by Maria Kiely (2020) - A debut novel about a family escaping Czechoslovakia after the 1948 Communist takeover, based on the experience of the author's mother who was the co-master of Adams House at Harvard when I was in college.

The Bound Girl by Nan Denker, set in Colonial Boston

Title: The Bound Girl
Author: Nan Denker
Publication: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, hardcover, 1957
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: Colonial Massachusetts, 1712

Description: Félicie Charreau fled France with her father, an affluent textile merchant, and uncle when the persecution of Huguenots under Louis XIV became too intense for them to ignore. But when her father dies on the voyage and her uncle hears there are French agents waiting to arrest him in Boston, he slips away and the kindly sea captain promises to place the girl with a good family.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Our Wives Under the Sea to Joan Aiken's Kingdom . . .

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (2022), described as “fathomlessly inventive” by the publisher, if you like puns.