William S. and the Great Escape

William S. and the Great Escape

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Important Life Lessons...Start the Conversation with Your Kids!, December 23, 2009

By	Reading It All (Orange County, CA USA) - See all my reviews

From the cover art to the end - William S. and the Great Escape is a winner!

William is forced to runaway - ahead of schedule - this is something he has been planning ever since the death of their beloved mother.

Escaping an abusive father and older siblings - William and his three younger siblings run - eventually hoping to land at their aunts house...but as you probably expect, trouble follows.

The only thing that kept this from being a 5 star book for me was the historical placement. The book takes place in the 1930's and I never really felt like I was there.

Through the telling of this compelling story the author, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, author of The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, and The Witches of Worm, all Newbery Honor Books...gives us a look at some very complex issues.

A middle grade look at abuse, bullying, relationships between siblings (the good and the bad), responsibility, trust...all great discussion openers for dealing with these issues with your own children.

Product Description from Amazon

William S. Baggett is a good kid trapped in a really awful family. William has his running-away money ready to go, he's just been waiting until he's older than twelve to leave. When his big brothers flush his sister's pet guinea pig down the toilet, she insists they leave now. And take the two littlest Baggetts with them. So they head out in the middle of the night, ready to escape to their aunt Fiona's house.

Unfortunately the trip doesn't go exactly as planned. It's not so easy traveling with two little kids, and some help from a lonely rich girl makes it even more complicated. Will they ever make it to Aunt Fiona's? And if they do, will she let them stay?

This is the story of four children who learn that sometimes you have to run away before you can find your way home.

What a GLORIOUS Adventure....

East of the Sun: A Novel

It has been along time since I have been as excited about writing a review as I am for East of the Sun: A Novel by Julia Gregson!! I actually got up this morning grabbed the book, looking for my bookmark to continue, only to realize I had finished it last night!

Yes - this is the story of 3 women and 1 man who for various reasons embark on a life changing trip to India. It is the 1920's and India is experiencing "growing pains" - an independent India is not far off.

BUT - this book is so much more! Julia Gregson skillfully introduces characters that you will love and, in some cases, love to hate! Her portrayal of India (the country) will put you on the ship, next to Viva, Tor, Rose and Guy! Even the bad guys are so vividly and completely fleshed out that - you "get" their anger and where it comes from.

Told from the viewpoint of Viva (though occasionally attention is pointed back on her) the chaperone who is not much older (or for that matter experienced) than the parties in her charge. You will love the beautiful innocence that is Rose - going to India to become a bride and blossoming to her place as a strong grown woman. The fun and bold Tor - who battles her weight, her mother and her own self-image, but finds that when you stop looking - good things come to you. Last the turbulent Guy - you want to hate him but Gregson explains the views of the day and the lack of knowledge about mental health issues...in true manic/depressive style he gets better, then disappoints...constantly troubled!

You will cry - you will laugh out loud - you won't want this one to end...

Product Description
As the Kaisar-i-Hind weighs anchor for Bombay in the autumn of 1928, its passengers ponder their fate in a distant land. They are part of the "Fishing Fleet" -- the name given to the legions of Englishwomen who sail to India each year in search of husbands, heedless of the life that awaits them. The inexperienced chaperone Viva Holloway has been entrusted to watch over three unsettling charges. There's Rose, as beautiful as she is naïve, who plans to marry a cavalry officer she has met a mere handful of times. Her bridesmaid, Victoria, is hell-bent on losing her virginity en route before finding a husband of her own. And shadowing them all is the malevolent presence of a disturbed schoolboy named Guy Glover.From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of Tamarind Street, from the sooty streets of London to the genteel conversation of the Bombay Yacht Club, East of the Sun is graced with lavish detail and a penetrating sensitivity -- historical fiction at its greatest.

About the Author
Julia Gregson has worked as a journalist and a foreign correspondent in the U.K., Australia, and the U.S. Her second novel, East of the Sun will be published by Touchstone in June 2009. It was a major bestseller in the UK in 2008 and won the Romantic Novel of the Year Prize. Her short stories have been published in collections and magazines and read on the radio. She lives in Monmouthshire, England.