"Pish!" says Constance the day the "Mayflower" finally lands in America. Constance longs for her beloved London, but she does her share to help the pilgrim settles fight disease, tame the landscape, and befriend the natives. The village of Plymouth grows as more settlers arrive. Many of the young men have eyes for Constance. Could there possibly be room for romance in this wild new place?

Fourteen-year-old Hannah is an orphan living with her cruel aunt Phoebe in Salem, Massachusetts. Hannah recently lost her mother, and now her only comfort is her horse, Promise. But when her money-hungry aunt sells the horse and then indentures Hannah to the Boston family of a British general, Hannah vows to retrieve Promise at all costs, and join the fight for freedom.   In Boston, as disagreements between the Whigs and the Tories run high and Americans prepare for revolution, not only does Hannah begin secret meetings with the Sons of Liberty disguised as a boy, but she is also reunited with Promise. Together with her beloved horse, Hannah takes a bold step to join the fight for freedom and sets off on a dangerous mission. Will she and Promise succeed?

Sarah Bishop is a young girl who has no interest in the coming American Revolutionary War. However, this is not how her father and her brother feel. Her father is a Loyalist, siding with the British, and her brother, is a Patriot. Her brother leaves the house, and soon, her father is tarred and feathered. Sarah realizes that she must leave. She then goes to New York City to try to find her brother, but the British wrongly accuse Sarah of a crime and so Sarah escapes into the wilderness. The rest of the book is a survival book that describes Sarah's life in the cave that she calls home. She does not learn much about the war except for through a couple of travelers that come close to her home. Sarah likes it this way because she is upset that the war has disrupted her life even though she didn't even care about the war. While in the wilderness, Sarah finds an internal strength that she did not know she had as she fight to survive in this new life.I found that this book was very slow paced. I felt that most of the interesting action took place in the beginning of the book, and then the majority of the focus was on Sarah's survival and adventures in the wilderness and cave. Even though many list this book as historical fiction, which I understand that it is because of the time period and some of the names that are dropped. I found it more of an adventure/survival book because that is what majority of the plot focuses on. While most of it took place in the the wilderness, I found that it was very hard to connect with the character. I think it is because O'Dell focuses on the actions of what Sarah does in the cave rather than the thoughts and feelings that Sarah has. I don't get to get into her head, I just get to see what she does. While this was not my favorite book, I understand that different people have different tastes, so I would recommend this book to students in grades 5-8th. I would not recommend it to someone looking for historical fiction, but I would recommend it to someone who was looking for an adventure book or survival book that has a female main character. It will also have to be someone that can stand a slow-paced book.

An independent-minded young maid tells the story of social-climber Peggy Shippen and how she influenced Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of the Patriot forces. Revolutionary Philadelphia is brought to life as Becca seeks to find her “missing pieces” while exploring the complicated issues of the war between the impoverished independence men and the decadent British Tories. “This tale of treachery comes alive under [Rinaldi’s] pen.”--Kirkus Reviews

This was an excellent read. Yes, I didn't 100%, completely approve of the romance here--but you know what? In the end, that hardly MATTERED. Because, as with all Ann Rinaldi books . . . this is about so much more than just romance. This is why she's my favorite historical fiction author. She takes what most other writers would just make a conventional "love story," and she crams in so. much. more.Such as: - Rich, realistic family dynamics. I absolutely loved Jem's relationships with both her parents. Let's hear it for strong parent-child bonds in YA fiction, am I right?? They were stern with her (and believe me, she needed it); but they struck a good balance between sternness and understanding. They allowed her room to grow. And they continually challenged her mind; forcing her to think through her own actions and reactions and the consequences thereof. Especially her dad. Man, I loved him &lt;3 Intellectual debate at the breakfast table for the WIN. - Which made it all the more impactful when (view spoiler)[her father was murdered, and her mother essentially shut herself off from the world because she felt so responsible. Like . . . sir, I think I am having an emotion. And when Jem came to confront her mom about everything that had happened, and her mom sat her down and explained that "sometimes, when you're an adult, you come to a place where you have NO GOOD CHOICES, but you still have to choose"? Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes. That scene was masterfully done, ladies and gentlemen. I am in awe. (hide spoiler)]

Deerfield, Massachusetts is one of the most remote, and therefore dangerous, settlements in the English colonies. In 1704 an Indian tribe attacks the town, and Mercy Carter becomes separated from the rest of her family, some of whom do not survive. Mercy and hundreds of other settlers are herded together and ordered by the Indians to start walking. The grueling journey -- three hundred miles north to a Kahnawake Indian village in Canada -- takes more than 40 days. At first Mercy's only hope is that the English government in Boston will send ransom for her and the other white settlers. But days turn into months and Mercy, who has become a Kahnawake daughter, thinks less and less of ransom, of Deerfield, and even of her "English" family. She slowly discovers that the "savages" have traditions and family life that soon become her own, and Mercy begins to wonder: If ransom comes, will she take it?From the Hardcover edition.

Harriet Hemings has always been happy in the comfortable, protected world that is Monticello. She's been well treated there; no one has ever called her a slave. But that is what she is, a slave of a man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. And there are rumors that she might be more than Thomas Jefferson's slave - she might be his daughter.Now Harriet has to make a choice - to run to freedom or to stay. If she stays, she'll remain a slave. But how can she choose freedom, if it means leaving behind her family, her race, and the only home she's ever known?

Reading through my shelves of juvenile books, I chose another Rinaldi historical fiction. I've yet to find a Rinaldi I didn't enjoy. She seems to have researched her topics well and then adds enough realism to plunk the reader, or at least me, down in the midst of the historical situation. This time, I was with the John Adams family as the children's caretaker, Rachel Marsh.Rachel, at age twelve, learns what liberty is, what it means to be free. She is befriended by the Adams' acquaintance Henry Knox, the bookseller. For years, I've always had a yearn for Knox. Maybe it is the name - he was a descendant of the Scottish Presbyterian John Knox the Reformer from whom we named one of our sons - or maybe it was because he loved books and owned an early American bookstore. Henry Knox helps Rachel to realize what thinking for oneself is, and he does this by guiding her reading and conversations. In three short paragraphs, Rinaldi takes the reader into Knox's bookshop:\
   "Mr. Knox's shop was as wonderful as Mr.s Adams had said. And I saw, the moment I entered, why she had sent me. It had more to do with the way the place made a person feel than anything else. I could never describe it. You would have to be a person who loves books to understand, who loves the way they look and smell. And the quiet that surrounds them. And the way it seeps into your soul. "A little bell tinkled as I opened the door. The walls were lined with books of all kinds, some with gold lettering on them, some with the bindings almost falling off or carefully stitched back on. Some had the look of ages about them. "I wandered for a few moments in the aisles, just looking, not paying mind to the people. No one bothered me. No one asked if I had a right to be there. A clock ticked serenely in a corner. A table was in a clearing in the back, on a Persian carpet by a window with small panes. Two men were seated at the table, studying. In another chair, by the window, sat a very pretty young lady, dressed in blue. She was reading. A cat dozed in the window seat in the sun. I could live here, I decided. I felt at home."\
I always love a good description. Rinaldi has many, and one that gave me a bit of pause was this:  ". . . pulled here by a rope of feelings that I had woven . . . .".Simple, yes. Nothing spectacular. But what a visible description of invisible things. 

"Sometimes I thought we were just a bundle of worms, all tied up in a burlap conjure sack and tied with strands of horsehair, bound to hurt anyone who didn't stay clear of us. And hidden under the back porch. Which was probably where we belonged."AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR FAMILY WAS SCREWED UP. :-P This is an excellent historical novel, one which showcases all of Ann Rinaldi's strengths: war, complex local politics, twisted family dynamics, a young, stubborn, but curious heroine, and minimal romance. [none at all for our MC, in fact] Caroline Whitaker is fourteen years old, growing up in South Carolina during the turbulent, bloody years of the American Revolution. Her home has been commandeered by British officers, her Patriot father is in jail, and her best friend was brutally murdered a few months ago. But the war, in a way, is the least of Caroline's troubles: She is white-passing. She never knew her real mother, and she's been brought up in the plantation's "big house" while her slave grandmother lives in a log cabin on the very same plantation, forbidden to even speak to her. But when her Loyalist brother is wounded, no one but Caroline herself and her grandmother have the guts to brave the ravaged countryside and fetch him home. Their journey becomes the centerpiece of the novel. It's a quest story, in fact, now that I think about it--a quest which forces Caroline to confront the truth about her identity, her family, and her past. I liked Caroline a lot. She's not my favorite of Rinaldi's heroines (that honor goes to Oscie Mason of In My Father's House), but she's pretty well up there. I liked her quietness, her tendency to mull problems &amp; plans over in silence for a long time before being willing to share them. I liked her strong opinions, but I also appreciated her readiness to change her mind when confronted with new evidence. She's quite assertive, but in a fairly self-contained way that I found relatable. She doesn't waste energy being loud or bold if she's not going to gain something by it. She's strategic. That's always a trait I love, whether in male or female characters. Her grandmother, Miz Melindy, was such a wonderful character, too. And because this book centers around her and Caroline's relationship, we got to see A LOT of her, which was awesome. Miz Melindy is just as secretive and strategic as her granddaughter (even more so, in fact) and I enjoyed seeing that common trait shine through, despite the two being estranged most of Caroline's life. Miz Melindy was a powerful example of one of the central truths about racial oppression, that "survival is resistance": she didn't outwardly speak against the system; but the very fact that she lived so long in a society bent on crushing the lifeblood out of people of color is a testimony against the entire thing. I want to talk about Rinaldi's representation of slavery for a minute, because it's a unique and interesting perspective that I'm not sure I'D choose, as an author; but I like what she does with it. In a nutshell: this is not a radical lens. Because Caroline herself, our POV character, is not a radical. Caroline never comes to view slavery, per se, as wrong--she only comes to view certain specific actions committed by certain family members as wrong. Furthermore, she still holds semi-racist beliefs by the end of the novel. This is sad, but it's also realistic: She's only a child, fourteen years old, staring these enormous, sickening crimes in the face, and half of her family are the perpetrators of said crimes while half are the victims . . . it's just TOO BIG and too close for her to see it clearly. This is not an environment or upbringing to produce sweeping denunciations. Even small denunciations, in such a case, count as a victory. And small denunciations, small victories, are what we get in Cast Two Shadows. Because of all that, I wouldn't give this novel to anybody [say, a younger reader] who didn't already have a clear grasp of the horrors of slavery. The point of Rinaldi's story is not to explicate those horrors through an objective lens; but rather, to chronicle one biracial, white-passing child's incipient &amp; subjective understanding that something might be wrong here. Which is in itself powerful. It's just not as good a teaching tool as some other historical novels I've read. Moving on to the Revolutionary War aspects: I was fascinated by the Deep South setting, since I've never really read much fiction about the Revolution down here. [I live in Tennessee so South Carolina is pretty close to home.] I vaguely knew the Southern war was way more brutal, but man, Rinaldi sure makes you feel it. Hangings and massacres and robbing and pillaging and all the rest of it. In fact, we witness a nasty hanging in the very first chapter, and it's not exactly graphic but it is quite a shock. I would caution more sensitive readers, this may not be the Revolution story for you. And the British officer who'd taken over Caroline's home, essentially holding her and her family hostage, was A REAL PIECE OF WORK, FOLKS. I hated him. *shudders* To make matters worse, he's carrying on a sexual liaison with Caroline's seventeen-year-old sister, who's infatuated with him and professes to *worship* his brutal and controlling actions; and yes, yes, yes, I know 17 was technically old enough to get married in colonial times, but the officer's at least 40 and all I could think of the whole entire time was STATUTORY RAPE MY GOOD DUDE. Sorry. Not trying to be flippant here. It's just . . . yeah, it's disgusting. Historically accurate. But disgusting. Nothing is "shown," but still, Rinaldi paints quite a stark portrait of the sexual exploitation going on here. So, again, sensitive readers, I am really not sure this is your cup of tea??? And while we're on the subject of sexual exploitation, in case it wasn't clear enough from the above discussion of Caroline's background, this entire novel revolves around slaves are being used as sexual objects by their white masters. Again, not graphic, but obvious and apparent. You may be wondering why I liked this book, after all that. Because I did--I really liked it. I was pleased that it didn't shy away from tough, meaty, saddening subjects. I appreciated how it honestly portrayed the ENORMOUS difficulty of coming to grips with your own family's transgressions after a lifetime of viewing them as "perfect." I was touched by Caroline and Miz Melindy's efforts to build a bridge out of the rubble of their broken pasts. I was inspired by Caroline's strength to fight, to survive, and to thrive, even when surrounded by so much darkness. She saw and heard things that a fourteen-year-old kid should never have to see and hear. But they couldn't crush her. In the end, she learned to take that pain and turn it into steel; just like her grandmother had done. "I've got three people hanging inside me now, Miz Melindy." "Three's all you got hangin' inside there?" I gaped at her. "Should there be more?" Again she gave that soft chuckle. "Chile, chile, I gots fifty."

The Revolutionary War is raging. General Wayne's soldiers are freezing, underpaid, and resentful. Whispers of mutiny abound. 	A stone's throw from the restless camp, Tempe Wick wages her own battle for survival. Despite her efforts, she fears she won't be able to feed her family, care for her ailing mother, or maintain her farm for long.	As the whispers get louder, the soldiers get bolder. Mutiny is imminent. And Tempe faces a gut-wrenching decision: Should she join the revolt?	Ann Rinaldi's dramatic story is based on the legend of America's Tempe Wick. 	Reader's guide included.

Thirteen-year-old Sarah Revere knows her father is a hero. But she also knows that Paul Revere guards a secret about the start of the Revolutionary War that he'll tell no one--not his new wife, not his best friend, not even his trusted daughter. It seems everyone in her family has secrets. Sarah's even got one of her own--and it's tearing her apart. 	Reader's guide included.

-POTENTIAL SPOILERS- Oh, Ann Rinaldi. I've read almost all of your books and the most I can say is that they're a definite acquired taste. She has a knack for randomly switching the speed of her pacing-sometimes the story is paced extremely slowly, and other times it's really fast. She doesn't give much time for her characters to develop personalities, even though almost all of her main characters are real historical characters, such as here. And she shows her characters from very early childhood to early adulthood usually, yet never actually says what age they are until later on. And this book was no exception. However, I liked it. It shed some light on an unknown historical figure, and while I was a bit mad with how abruptly it ended, I liked watching the main character gradually become more independent and eventually run away, taking her own liberty as the title says. I know some people would have a problem with a white author depicting slavery, and yes, the book is written in the accent the main characters would've had, but I thought she did a good job portraying her. But then again, I'm white, so maybe there's something here I'm missing. Overall, I liked this book, despite its fast pace at times. It's a time period I don't often go to, but when I do, I always find myself very pleasantly surprised.

Sarah Henry, wife of the famous statesman Patrick Henry, is losing her mind, and she's secretly being kept in the cellar because she is a danger to herself and her children. Daughter Anne has a secret, too. She knows which child will inherit Sarah's madness, and she'll pay any price to protect her siblings from this information.	With insight and compassion, Ann Rinaldi explores the possibility that Patrick Henry's immortal cry of "Give me liberty, or give me death," which roused a nation to arms, was first spoken by his wife, Sarah, as she pleaded to be released from her confinement. Told from the point of view of Patrick Henry's children, Or Give Me Death eloquently depicts the secret life and tremendous burdens borne by one famous American.

When Lady Jane, orphaned daughter of an English earl, arrives in Charlestown, South Carolina, in 1776, she finds herself in the middle of a heated war--a war not only between her former country and her new home but one between the members of her own family, whose loyalties are strongly divided in America's fight for freedom. Torn by family feuds, the war, a secret romance, and her own growing need for independence, Jane struggles for the courage to become the person she wants to be: just Jane.	Includes a reader's guide.

Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, a young girl is purchased by the wealthy Wheatley family in Boston. Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--has an eager mind and it leads her on an unusual path for a slave--she becomes America’s first published black poet. “Strong characterization and perceptive realism mark this thoughtful portrayal.”--Booklist

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

American Colonial Era Fiction Stuff

More lists by Lin

Old movies

winter 2025!

summer 2025!

Christmas to watch

To watch 70s

90s watched

Romcoms I've seen

Old movies to watch

winter watches