About the Author:
Readers have come to know Ann Rinaldi for her richly satisfying historical fiction. Eight of her novels have been named ALA Best Books for Young Adults, including Time Enough for Drums, The Last Silk Dress, Break with Charity, and Wolf by the Ears. Author of more than thirty books for young readers, including a book in the Dear America series, she was awarded the National History Award from the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1994.
From School Library Journal:
Grade 5-8--Once again, Rinaldi has unearthed a historical nugget and polished it into a gem of a story. This intriguing novel is based on the premise of what could have happened if the notorious Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian returned to England with his five-year-old daughter, who was born on Pitcairn Island, and left her on the Isle of Man to be raised by his mother, before he went into hiding. Now 14, Mary is forced to live a lie, as she must pretend that her uncle is her father in order to save the family's good name. Still, she wonders about the whereabouts of her real father, and hopes that she will someday see him again. When her grandmother sends her off to a fashionable girls' school in London, this secret becomes a great burden for her to bear, and she must stand up to a fellow student who is threatening to expose her. In the end, through a selfless act, she is finally reunited with the father for whom she has been longing. The author sets the scene with an introduction that provides a bit of background and sifts through what is fact and what is fiction in a note at the end. The characters are well drawn and believable and the 19th-century English setting is vividly presented. This clever, well-written historical novel may just inspire curious readers to investigate the personalities and events on which the story is based.--Kimberly Monaghan, formerly at Vernon Area Public Library, IL
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