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Search Results for: michaela maccoll

The Revelation of Louisa May

May 14, 2015 by Jennifer

the revelation of louisa may

5M4B disclosure

Historical fiction is not always a go-to genre for me, but I do enjoy kidlit, because the historical impact dovetails so nicely with the plot and the history is always so interesting (be it civil rights or wartime or pioneers). The area where author Michaela MacColl focuses and excels is helping an historical figure come to life.

In The Revelation of Louisa May that historical figure is one dear to bookworms young and old, Louisa May Alcott. I have heard of her father Bronson’s philosophical living experiments but didn’t know too much about them. The novel alludes to them, but focuses on the financial and emotional hardship of life with a philosopher, shored up by the experiences of friends Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

Another element central to the plot is the Alcott family’s work as abolitionist and specifically as members of the Underground Railroad, aiding slaves who are trying to find a better life. When a “package” arrives in their care, and Marmee is away, Louisa May takes charge of him. It’s dangerous, but she’s up for the task of communicating with the “Conductor” as George awaits the arrival of the rest of the family.

Another complication is the arrival of another mysterious man, Fred, a distant cousin who spent summers with the Alcotts. But he’s grown and changed, and 15-year-old Louisa feels differently about him now, no longer seeing him with the familiarity of a brother. Fred’s affection towards Louisa is not brotherly love either.

When another mysterious stranger comes to town, things get even more difficult. He seems to have a past with Henry that Louisa can’t figure out, which is only one reason she doesn’t trust him. He becomes the center of a mystery that she and Fred are determined to solve.

The chapters begin with an excerpt from the autobiographical Little Women, making the story and the character of Jo/Louisa even more dear.

I enjoyed the familiar elements of this story as well as the completely imagined incidents, which would stand alone even if a beloved heroine of literature was not the central character.

More from Michaela MacColl

  • Always Emily {Bronte}
  • Promise the Night {pilot Beryl Markham}
  • Prisoners in the Palace {Queen Victoria}, still my favorite

Filed Under: 12 and up, Children's Books, Jennifer, Middle Grade Chapter Books

Always Emily #MMGM

April 14, 2014 by Jennifer

5M4B disclosure

always emilyI have been a fan of Michaela MacColl for a while. I loved her first novel. Scroll all the way to the bottom to see links in the recommended posts to two of her other books I enjoyed.

Earlier this year, I decided to reread Wuthering Heights. It was interesting, but I stalled a bit. Reading Always Emily about the life of Emily and Charlotte Bronte in their teen years revived my interest.

Michaela MacColl writes historical fiction that will appeal to fans of the genre. I read it at times, but it’s not my favorite genre, but I always enjoy her books. They are written for an older middle grade through young adult audience (probably 5th to 8th grade), but are so enjoyable for adults as well.

One doesn’t have to be familiar with the Bronte sisters to enjoy this book. Other than having read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, I didn’t know much about them. This is a typical story of sibling rivalry, of rebellion, family drama and loss, with a little mystery and a tiny bit of romance thrown in. Who doesn’t love that?

I can’t recommend MacColl’s novels highly enough, and this one is no exception.

This is linked up to Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. Click through to read reviews of other titles for your middle grade (3rd – 6th) reader.

Filed Under: 12 and up, Jennifer, Kidlit, Middle Grade Chapter Books

Promise the Night

January 3, 2012 by Jennifer

Everyone knows the name Amelia Earhart, but what about Beryl Markham? She was one of the first women to get a commercial pilot’s license, and one of the first to successfully make a solo flight from Europe to North America.

Promise the Night by Michaela McColl is a middle grade novel that looks at her life, growing up on her father Captain Clutterbuck’s horse farm in British East Africa (now Kenya). It’s a fascinating setting, complete with wild animals and Beryl’s defacto inclusion in the nearby Nandi tribe. Hunting and fighting with them taught her courage and living with only her father developed her strong sense of individuality and self. She believed that there was nothing she couldn’t do.

Interspersed with stories from her growing up years, about 11 to 14, from 1912 to 1915ish, are news stories and Markham’s own accounts of that flight she took in 1936, not the “easy way” West to East, but flying towards the dark against the wind from East to West.

Boys and girls who love interesting settings and/or flight will be as charmed by Beryl Markham as I was. Michaela MacColl’s Prisoners in the Palace is another of example of her well-written and engaging historical fiction. I think that one is more for 11 and up, whereas Promise the Night is a solid middle-grade novel that would appeal to boys and girls 9 – 12 years old.

Jennifer Donovan loves to read about exotic locales. She blogs at Snapshot about her travels, when she manages to get away.

Filed Under: Children's Books, Jennifer, Middle Grade Chapter Books

Prisoners in the Palace

October 14, 2010 by Jennifer

Prisoners in the Palace: How Princess Victoria became Queen with the Help of Her Maid, a Reporter, and a Scoundrel is a new Young Adult novel by Michaela MacColl. The title–and subtitle–says it all.

This is a historical fiction novel based on the author’s examination of the very sheltered life of the teenage Victoria, before she became queen. She thought that Victoria needed someone who could go off and have adventures. Read my full interview and report on first-time author MacColl’s book launch party here.

Liza is the one who gets to have adventures, while Victoria is basically imprisoned in her own run-down palace. Liza is a young woman who is suddenly orphaned and destitute, who gets the opportunity to be a handmaiden to Princess Victoria. It is below her station, but she takes it in her determination to provide for herself and pay off the debts left after her parents’ death.

The historical facts about life in a palace are interesting, but the tidbits of life on the street are fun! You can learn patter flash along with Liza as she befriends the “scoundrel.”

Liza shows courage and care for others throughout the story, making her a heroine that parents will want to encourage their daughters to get to know.

Because my non-historical fiction reading tween picked up Prisoners in the Palace and read it straight through without casting it aside, and I did the same, I’m adding it to our 5 Star Reads page. A good novel should be able to transcend genre, and this one does. Historical fiction should be able to inspire us to want to learn more, and this one has.

Content: I love that this book is a little romantic, a little suspenseful and action-packed, and a little inspiring. When in the right hands, “a little” goes a long way and is a perfect offering for a younger YA reader, or an older one who chooses to avoid reading novels with cursing or depiction of mature activities. There is a bit of mature content. (small SPOILERS here) One of the staff was fired for “unbecoming conduct.” It comes to light that she was taken advantage of and ends up pregnant in a prostitution home and then takes her own life. It wasn’t at all too much for my own 12-year-old to handle, but it’s worth noting.

I highly recommend this book for kids 12 and up and adults who enjoy historical fiction or are willing to dip into the genre. To find out more about the author and what she’s working on now, read my article at Patch.


Jennifer Donovan blogs at Snapshot about her non-romantic and un-intriguing life with her husband, dog, and two kids in Connecticut.

Filed Under: 12 and up, 5 Star Reads, High School, Jennifer, Young Adult

5 Star Reads

If we post a review of a book here at 5 Minutes for Books, it means that we think that someone out there would like it. It may not have been our favorite book, but it was worth our time to read and review, and we hope someone likes it. We wanted to distinguish our “must reads,” and so we’ve given them the special 5 Star Reads designation.

Reviewed in 2015:

Fiction:

The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
Things Half in Shadow by Alan Finn
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Non-Fiction and Memoir:

It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell

Reviewed in 2014:

Fiction:

Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy
The Art of Arranging Flowers by Lynne Branard
The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
The Never Never Sisters by L. Alison Heller
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez
We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
One Plus One by JoJo Moyes
The Vacationers by Emma Straub
The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Non-Fiction and Memoir:

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg
Soul Keeping by John Ortberg
God is Just Not Fair: Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Jennifer Rothschild
Drama High by Michael Sokolove

Children and Young Adult

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell

Reviewed in 2013:

Fiction:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
All You Could Ask For by Mike Greenberg
Courting Greta by Ramsey Hootman
A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Truth in Advertising by John Kenney
The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg
The Experts by Chris Pavone
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

Non-Fiction and Memoir:

Etched in Sand by Regina Calcaterra
We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook by Becky Johnson and Rachel Randolph
I am a Church Member by Thom S. Rainer

Children and Young Adult

Beyond the Paw Paw Trees by Palmer Brown
Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
Bedtime Math by Laura Overdeck
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Paperboy by Vince Vawter

Reviewed in 2012:

Fiction:

Astray by Emma Donoghue
Falling Together by Marisa De Los Santos
All That I Am by Anna Funder
I, Iago by Nicole Galland
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Dragon Keeper by Minda Mejia
The Starlite Drive-in by Marjorie Reynolds
The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe

Non-Fiction and Memoir:

Stasiland by Anna Funder
I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag by Jennifer Gilbert
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The Queen: A Life in Brief by Robert Lacey
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Children and Young Adult

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms by Lissa Evans
Prophet by R. J. Larson
Life with Lily by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher

Reviewed in 2011:

Fiction:

The Fates will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
Q: A Novel by Evan Mandery

Non-Fiction and Memoir:

5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Son by Vicki Courtney
Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein
Stasiland by Anna Funder
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Where You Left Me by Jennifer Gardner Trulson
The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

Children and Young Adult:

Amazing Cows by Sandra Boynton
Blackout by John Rocco
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang
My Name Is Not Alexander by Jennifer Fosberry
Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf by Olivia Bouler
Press Here by Herve Tullet
Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday Party by Melanie Watt
Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators by Jim Arnosky
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Reviewed in 2010:

Fiction:

Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace
Finny by Justin Kramon
Secret Daughter by Shilpa Somaya Gowda
Small Wars by Sadie Jones
So Much For That by Lionel Shriver
The Stuff that Never Happened by Maddie Dawson
Vanishing by Deborah Willis

Non-Fiction and Memoir:

Bonhoeffer: A Biography by Eric Metaxes
Brave Girl Eating by Harriet Brown
The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Every Natural Fact by Amy Lou Jenkins
The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore
I Will Carry You by Angie Smith
Little Girls Can Be Mean by Drs. Anthony and Lindert
Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes
Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
This is Not the Story You Think it Is by Laura Munson
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
We’ve Got Issues by Judith Warner

Children and Young Adult

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
Betsy Red Hoodie by Gail Carson Levine
D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet by Nancy Sanders
The Frog Scientist by Pamela Turner
Guys Read: Funny Business edited by Jon Scieszka
How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart
I Didn’t Do It! by Patricia MacLachlan
Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation by Matt Myklusch
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl
Scarecrow Pete by Mark Kimball Moulton
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
The Tighty Whitey Spider Poems by Kenn Nesbitt
Up We Grow: A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm by Deborah Hodge
Written in Bone by Sally Walker

5 Star Reads, reviewed prior to 2010:

Fiction:

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
After You by Julie Buxbaum
Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger
Hannah’s Dream by Diane Hammond
The Rook by Steven James
Stealing with Style by Emyl Jenkins
Small Wars by Sadie Jones
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon
The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Memoir and Biography:

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
My Prison, My Home by Haleh Esfandiari
Boy Alone by Karl Taro Greenfeld
Clara’s War by Clara Kramer
Coop by Michael Perry
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepherd
How to Be Like Walt by Pat Williams
Dough by Mort Zachter

Nonfiction:

Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merriman
On the Go Devotional: Contentment by Lydia Brownback
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies
Finding An Unseen God by Alicia Britt Chole
5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter by Vicki Courtney
Stubborn Twig, by Lauren Kessler
The Uncommon Woman: Making an Ordinary Life Extraordinary by Susie Larson
Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy
The Grand Weaver, by Ravi Zacharias

Children’s Books — ages 0 – 3, 3 – 6, 6 – 9:

My Name Is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry
The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller
Tiana’s Cookbook: Recipes for Kids edited by Cindy Littlefield
Eye Like and Incredible Books by Play Bac Publishing
Little Hoot and Little Pea, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

Children’s Books — ages 9 – 12:

Savvy by Ingrid Law
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart

Books for Tweens and Teens:

The Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Much Ado About Anne by Heather Vogel Frederick
Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle
Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell
The Strictest School in the World series by Howard Whitehouse
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

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