Historical Fiction

Bound to Dream: An Immigrant Story by Charles Ghigna, Illustrated by Anna Forlati

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Bound to Dream: An Immigrant Story
Author: Charles Ghigna
Illustrator: Anna Forlati
Published September 28th, 2024 by Schiffer Kids

Summary: A heartwarming picture book about Carlo, a young Italian immigrant in 1800s New York City, that celebrates books and family as it instills the values of heritage, perseverance, and the love of learning.

Transcending borders and generations, Bound to Dream: An Immigrant Story follows Carlo as he leaves his home in Italy and travels far away to New York City to create a new life. Carlo finds a job as a bookbinder and learns the skills of the trade, cultivating a love of books, words, and stories that he passes to future generations.

Featuring stunning, atmospheric illustrations depicting Carlo’s immigrant journey, this picture book is based on the experiences of the author’s great-grandfather. The uplifting true story inspires children ages four to eight to learn about their family history and how it shapes and lives on in them today.

About the Creators: 

Charles Ghigna—Father Goose® is the author of more than 100 books, including The Father Goose Treasury of Poetry, The Magic Box, A Poem Is a Firefly, Love Is Everything, and Fetch, Cat. Fetch! He has written more than 5,000 poems for children and adults. He was born in New York City and has lived in Homewood, Alabama, for the past 50 years. Visit his website at FatherGoose.com.

Anna Forlati has illustrated several books, and her work has appeared in many international exhibitions. She is a collaborator with the Onus Radio Magica Foundation. Her book My Dad, My Rock received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Anna was born in Padua, Italy. She received her degree in contemporary art and a degree in film history at the IUAV University in Venice.

Review & Educators’ Tools for Navigation: This story of resiliency and the love of literacy transcends time and place. Carlo comes to a new land, and although he is faced with hard times, he finds something he loves and puts his heart and work into that thing. This book is truly a story about how books can change lives. Oh, and make sure to look for how color is added into the illustrations when speaking about book

As a historical fiction picture book based on the author’s great grandfather’s story, Bound to Dream is a great inclusion when talking about immigration into America, America in the early 1800s, or family history. (My son also just did a passion project on the history of books, and this would have been a great resource for that also!)

Discussion Questions: 

  • What character traits did Carlo display throughout the book?
  • How did Carlo’s love of books help him in his life?
  • How did the illustrator share the magic Carlo felt when reading with the reader?
  • How did the author learn this story if he never met his great grandfather?
  • What lessons can you take away from this story?
  • Why do you think the author chose to tell this story?
  • How does the title of the book connect with the story?

Flagged Spreads: 

Read This If You Love: Picture books about the power of books, Picture books about immigration

Recommended For: 

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**Thank you to Schiffer Publishing for providing a copy for review!**

Author Guest Post: “Tackling My Own Book’s Educators’ Guide” by Anna Olswanger, Author of A Visit to Moscow

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“Tackling My Own Book’s Educators’ Guide”

Near the bottom of this page is a download link to the student guide for A Visit to Moscow. If you open the link, you’ll discover several discussion questions, beginning with this one:

“Rather than opening directly with the Rabbi’s arrival in Moscow, the book opens and closes with Zev’s dreamlike, enigmatic vision. Why do you think the author chose to bookend the story with these sequences? From whose perspective or perspectives are we experiencing this story?”

When Creators Assemble! (the nonprofit that works to bring graphic novels into educational spaces) was developing the guide, I wondered how I would answer the question myself. Why did I bookend the story of Zev’s vision? Why didn’t I just tell the simple, chronological story of the rabbi visiting Moscow and discovering Zev as a little boy, hidden away by his parents to protect him from the Soviet government’s antisemitism? Why add the dream-like, enigmatic opening and ending?

The simple answer is that, like any author, I wanted to add my own thumbprint to a story I had heard. I wanted to make it my own. But then I thought about where my part of the book had come from.

In listening to the story that would become A Visit to Moscow from Rabbi Rafael Grossman, the inspiration for the rabbi character in the graphic novel, I asked him endless questions about the real Zev and his family. I wanted to understand how the little boy, who had never been outside the room he was born in, would view the world. Would he be angry? Would he be afraid? Would he be bitter?

Zev, the little boy, later told Rabbi Grossman that when his mother was sleeping, he would turn the shade a little to see what was outside. Zev knew that in the winter it snowed. He knew there was rain. He knew when it was warm and when it was cold. As he looked out the window, he wondered about the world. He thought it was made up of mean people because he couldn’t go out and play, but—Rabbi Grossman emphasized—Zev never thought the world was ugly. He wanted to know more about it.

As soon as Rabbi Grossman arranged for the family’s visas to Israel, Zev and his parents were put on a flight to Europe. Zev thought the car that took them to the airport was an incredible thing. The airplane totally fascinated him. He talked about it later at his bar mitzvah in Israel and said he went up to God and then came down.

Rabbi Grossman said that when he visited the family in Israel, Zev ran around showing him things: his school books, his soccer ball, his kippah. Zev was excited and full of life, introducing his pals to the Rabbi, shouting, singing–not at all restricted. He seemed to love everything about his life.

Rabbi Grossman said Zev was extremely happy in Israel. His life was filled with learning the language, making friends, and playing sports. He traveled on buses and went to every part of Israel. Later, he went to a hesder yeshiva (a yeshiva program that combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces) and received a degree in mechanical engineering. He married and had children. And through it all Zev had a very strong, loving relationship with his parents. Zev talked about the world as a beautiful place. He talked about Lebanon and how the mountains were extraordinary.

Lebanon, where as a young man he stepped on a land mine while on reserve duty and was killed.

That view of the world as an extraordinary place sustained Zev, whether in the one room in Moscow where he could only peek out the window or in the openness of the land and cities of Israel. I think for him, being alive on this earth was like being in heaven.

And that is what I added to the story to make it my own, Zev’s feeling of being alive on this earth. It’s why I added the opening where the adult Zev has just died and is looking down at the area in Lebanon where he stepped on a land mine and sees the lush landscape—a river, haze, the ruins of a rampart. He thinks he’s looking down from heaven, and then everything starts to disappear. He can’t remember his name or who he was. He hears a voice and follows it. He sees a man (later we realize it is the fictional version of Rabbi Grossman, the rabbi who visited Zev and his family in the Soviet Union) at his Shabbat table with his family. The man is about to tell his family a story, and the story is his meeting Zev and his parents during a visit to Moscow. I then added the ending where Zev remembers all the events in the book, realizes he has died, remembers he has been alive. That was where I added the line, “He remembers being alive was like being in heaven.”

The book couldn’t have been just the simple story of what happened to Rabbi Grossman. It had to include what Zev knew, what Rabbi Grossman knew, and what I came to know through hearing the story, writing it, and reading it—that this world, in all its richness, is heaven.

Will students have any idea about my reason for including the mystical bookends to the story as they try to answer that question in the student guide? No, but they might imagine a reason, and that is the start of making sense of what we experience in life and making our own story part of life’s big story. Hearing a story we don’t quite understand and working to make sense of it by filling in the blanks is, at least for me, what being a human in the chain of history is about.

Published May 24th, 2022 by West Margin Press

About the Book: This haunting graphic novel takes place in 1965 when an American rabbi travels to the Soviet Union to investigate reports of persecution of the Jewish community. Moscow welcomes him as a guest—but provides a strict schedule he and the rest of his group must follow. One afternoon, the rabbi slips away. With an address in hand and almost no knowledge of the Russian language, he embarks on a secret journey that will change his life forever. Inspired by the true experience of Rabbi Rafael Grossman, A Visit to Moscow conveys the spiritual Holocaust and dev­as­tat­ing antisemitism that existed in the Soviet Union, and the com­mit­ment of one Jew to bringing the hor­ri­fy­ing real­i­ty into the light. It offers a window into the bias that still exists against Jews today, both in Russia and in America. This brief, beautiful, digestible visual narrative is a perfect on-ramp for student interest in the history of religious persecution, the oppression in the Soviet Union, and the experience of the Jewish people at large. It’s a wonderful tool for teachers—approachable, brief, illustrated. A volume that can be read and discussed in a 40-minute class or used as the foundation for broader study.

2023 Eisner Award Nominee, Best Adaptation from Another Medium

2022 Brightness Illustration Award Longlist

About the Author: Anna Olswanger first began interviewing Rabbi Rafael Grossman and writing down his stories in the early 1980s. She is the author of the middle grade novel Greenhorn, based on an incident in Rabbi Grossman’s childhood and set in New York in the aftermath of the Holocaust. She is also the author of Shlemiel Crooks, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book and PJ Library Book, which she wrote after discovering a 1919 Yiddish newspaper article about the attempted robbery of her great-grandparents’ kosher liquor store in St. Louis. Anna is a literary agent and represents a number of award-winning authors and illustrators. Visit her at www.olswanger.com.

About the Illustrator: Yevgenia Nayberg is an award-winning illustrator, painter, and set and costume designer. As a designer, she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Fellowship for Theatre Designers, the Independent Theatre Award, and the Arlin Meyer Award. She has received multiple awards for her picture book illustrations, including three Sydney Taylor Medals. Her debut author/illustrator picture book, Anya’s Secret Society, received a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection Award. Her latest picture book is A Party for Florine: Florine Stettheimer and Me. Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Yevgenia now lives and draws from her studio in New York City. Visit her at www.nayberg.org.

Thank you, Anna, for this insight into analyzing your graphic novel!

Author Guest Post: “Web of the Spider in the Classroom” by Michael P. Spradlin, Author of Rise of the Spider

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“Web of the Spider in the Classroom”

Having written a great deal of historical fiction for young readers, I’ve been considering the inherent value of this genre for middle graders for some time. Is learning about the past through fiction a viable methodology? Or should we only stick to studying…the past? I know that professional educators, librarians and smarter than me writers have long wrestled with this question.

I can only speak from anecdotal experience, but that experience tells me the answer is a resounding yes. My historical novel Into the Killing Seas, based on the true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during World War II, has probably generated more reader mail to me than any of my books. And a common and consistent thread running through all of those letters was how many of those students were so intrigued by the true story that they had turned it into a research project and had gone on to read one or several of the excellent non-fiction books about the disaster. As the song says, “reader, you make my heart sing.” (I know it doesn’t really say that, but this is my piece, and I can do what I want).

My earlier historical fiction (I call them the World War II Adventures Series) had been centered around a group or person who experienced the war through a great deal of pain and hardship. The challenge with writing THE WEB OF THE SPIDER series is that it revolves around the rise of Nazism in pre-war Germany. Beginning in 1929, when Hitler’s movement is starting to pick up steam. His two fold strategy was working. One, he blamed the Treaty of Versailles for being unnecessarily punitive to Germany. And two, he placed the rest of the blame for Germany’s struggles squarely on the back of its Jewish citizens.

In the first book, The Rise of the Spider, we are introduced to Rolf, a twelve year old boy, living in the quaint village of Heroldsberg. It is a gorgeous place, just a few kilometers from Nuremberg, and while people are struggling, things are not as bad in Heroldsberg as they are in the rest of the country. Rolf and his best friend Ansel, spend their days at school, playing football (European) and wandering the woods and waters nearby. Rolf lives with his older brother Romer and his Papa who owns a toy factory in Nuremberg. His mother passed away from the Spanish Flu when Rolf was born in 1918. His life is quiet and fairly people until one day when two young men arrive in town.

They are representatives of the Hitler Youth, here to establish a chapter in Heroldsberg. To Rolf, there is something off about them. Their actions are a little too deliberate, their hair and clothing are too perfect, and their words too carefully chosen. With warning bells going off, Rolf decides to ignore and stay away from them. But he is alarmed when his brother Romer, becomes enamored by their words.

Things deteriorate rapidly. Romer is further drawn in and when a Jewish business is burned, Rolf suspects Romer had something to do with it. When Romer makes a decision to join the Hitler Youth his family is splintered even further, and more unrest takes place in the village.

When Romer finally runs away, Rolf and his Papa race to the Nuremberg Rally grounds, where Hitler is speaking during the Nuremberg Rally, but they are too late. When a violent riot erupts, they are caught up in it. And in the aftermath of violence, Rolf will need to make a choice between his family and his country.

Dealing with topics like political violence, socio-economic theory, and antisemitism and distilling it down to a middle grade audience, while keeping up the action, suspense and intrigue was probably the most challenging writing I’ve ever done. And my hope is that his book will help readers have a beginning understanding for the problems and social issues that we still face today. It is unfortunate that recent events have resulted in a new wave of violence and antisemitism. What is old is new again.

But maybe, just maybe, my little book can help.

Working with a reading specialist, I have created a curriculum/teaching guide that I hope will prove useful in leading discussions about The Rise of the Spider.

Web of the Spider: Book 1, The Rise of the Spider

Introduction:

Historical fiction has repeatedly shown us, that certain stories and narratives can serve as powerful windows into the past. It can offer educators and students opportunities to delve into pivotal moments in history. The Rise of the Spider is set in 1929 Germany, where a young boy named Rolf and his best friend Ansel find themselves caught in the crosshairs of political upheaval. I hope this story will help educators explore the value of historical fiction in the context of teaching history and fostering critical thinking skills.

Plot Overview:

The story unfolds in the quiet town of Heroldsberg, where Rolf and Ansel witness the ominous arrival of Hans and Nils, members of the Hitler Youth. The plot takes a poignant turn as the friends watch in horror as Rolf’s brother Romer becomes entangled in their web of recruitment. The novel begins to  shed light on the rise of totalitarian ideologies and the impact they had on communities during a crucial period in history.

Themes for Classroom Discussion:

  1. The Power of Propaganda:
    • Use the book as a jumping off point to discuss the role of propaganda in shaping public opinion during the 1920s and 1930s. Compare to how political propaganda is used today.
    • Encourage students to analyze propaganda materials of the time, fostering media literacy skills. Be sure to be careful in using these materials as the can be disturbing.
  2. Youth and Ideological Indoctrination:
    • By 1933, the Hitler Youth had replaced all other youth programs in Germany. Discuss the role of recruiting young people into political causes during other periods of history.
    • Discuss the ethical implications of using young people to facilitate political change.
  3. Family Dynamics During Political Upheaval:
    • A person’s political beliefs can have a positive or negative impact on family dynamics. Discuss the role politics can play in a family life.
    • Encourage students to reflect on how political beliefs can strain familial bonds and create internal conflicts.

Teaching Strategies:

  1. Historical Inquiry Projects:
    • Assign projects that prompt students to investigate the socio-political climate of 1929 Germany.
    • Have them present findings through multimedia formats, fostering research and presentation skills.
  2. Character Analysis:
    • Guide students in conducting in-depth character analyses, exploring the motivations and conflicts faced by Rolf, Ansel, and Romer. How are they alike? How are they different?
    • Connect character development to broader historical themes. How does Rolf’s journey compare to other both fictional characters and real people from history.

Published September 24th, 2024 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

About the Book: Witness the chilling rise of Hitler’s Germany through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy in this first book in the action-packed middle grade series Web of the Spider for fans of I Survived and A Night Divided.

1929, Heroldsberg, Germany. Rolf might only be twelve years old, but he’s old enough to know that things have not been good in his country since the end of the Great War. Half of Germany is out of work, and a new political movement is taking hold that scares him. Every night, Rolf’s father and older brother, Romer, have increasingly heated arguments about politics at the dinner table. And when two members of the new Nazi Party, Hans and Nils, move to town as part of the Hitler Youth, Rolf is uneasy to see how enamored Romer is by their promises of bringing Germany to glory.

Rolf doesn’t trust Hans and Nils for a moment. For all their talk of greatness, they act more like bullies, antagonizing shop owners who are Rolf’s friends and neighbors. Yet Romer becomes increasingly obsessed with their message of division, and Rolf watches in horror as his family fractures even further.

When there is an act of vandalism against a Jewish-owned business in town, Rolf fears Romer might have had something to do with it. Can Rolf find a way to intervene before things get any worse?

About the Author: Michael P. Spradlin is the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author of the Spy Goddess series, The Youngest Templar series, and the Web of the Spider series, as well as several works of historical fiction, including the Western Heritage Award winning Off Like the Wind: The Story of the Pony Express. He currently resides in Lapeer, Michigan, with his wife, daughter, and his schnoodle, Sequoia. Learn more at MichaelSpradlin.com.

Thank you, Michael, for sharing this teaching guide!

Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson

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Remember Us
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Published October 10th, 2023 by Nancy Paulsen Books

Summary: National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings readers a powerful story that delves deeply into life’s burning questions about time and memory and what we take with us into the future.

It seems like Sage’s whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade. As house after house burns down, her Bushwick neighborhood gets referred to as “The Matchbox” in the local newspaper. And while Sage prefers to spend her time shooting hoops with the guys, she’s also still trying to figure out her place inside the circle of girls she’s known since childhood. A group that each day, feels further and further away from her. But it’s also the summer of Freddy, a new kid who truly gets Sage. Together, they reckon with the pain of missing the things that get left behind as time moves on, savor what’s good in the present, and buoy each other up in the face of destruction. And when the future comes, it is Sage’s memories of the past that show her the way forward. Remember Us speaks to the power of both letting go . . . and holding on.

About the Author: Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) received a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award and NAACP Image Award winner Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award; and Each Kindness, which won the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

Review: Remember Us may be a historical fiction book, taking place in the 1970s, but Sage’s story is timeless. In the book, you have so many layers to look at. First, Woodson’s vignettes are beautifully crafted which makes the book such a wonderful read. Then you have the layer of the fires in Sage’s neighborhood and fire in her own life. There is also her love of basketball, and her amazing talent, as well as the questioning about her identity this leads to. Finally, it is a story of family and friends with Sage’s mom and Freddy playing star roles. All of this leads to a multi-layered novel that is a truthful look at growing up and remembering the past.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation and Discussion Questions: Check out this Educator’s Guide from Penguin Random House!

Flagged Passage: 

After the year of fire
vines rise up
through the rest of our lives
of smoke
of flame
of memory.
As if to say
We’re still here.
As if to say
Remember us.

1

The moon is bright tonight. And full. Hanging low above the house across the street where an orange curtain blows in and out of my neighbors’ window. Out and in. And past the curtain there’s the golden light of their living room lamps. Beyond that, there is the pulsing blue of their tele­vision screen. I see this all now. I see a world continuing.

And in the orange and gold and blue I’m reminded again of the year when sirens screamed through my old neighborhood and smoke always seemed to be billowing. Somewhere.

That year, from the moment we stepped out of our houses in the morning till late into the night, we heard the sirens. Down Knickerbocker. Up Madison. Across Cornelia. Both ways on Gates Avenue. Down Ridgewood Place. Rounding the corners of Putnam, Wilson, Evergreen . . .

Evergreen. Sometimes a word comes to you after time has passed. And it catches you off guard. Evergreen. The name of a family of trees. And the name of a block in Brooklyn. Evergreen. Another way of saying forever.

That year, nothing felt evergreen.

Palmetto. A word that has never left me. A word that in my mind is evergreen. Palmetto. The name for both a stunning tree and an oversize cockroach. Palmetto was also the name of a street in my old neighborhood. And that year, Palmetto Street was burning.

2

That was the year when, one by one, the buildings on Palmetto melted into a mass of rock and ash and crumbled plaster until just a few walls were left standing. Walls that we threw our balls against and chased each other around. And at the end of the day, when we were too tired to play anymore, they were the walls we simply sat down by and pressed our backs into, staring out over a block that was already, even as we stared at it with our lips slightly parted and our hands shielding the last of the sun from our eyes, almost gone.

We said Well, nothing lasts for always, right?

We said One day even the whole earth will disappear.

We were just some kids making believe we understood.

But we didn’t. Not yet.

We didn’t understand the fires. Or life. Or the world.

But we knew that neighborhood was our world.

And we knew . . . our world was burning.

Read This If You Love: Jacqueline Woodson’s books such as brown girl dreaming and Harbor Me, Troublemaker by John Cho, The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, The Unsung Hero of Birdsong USA by Brenda Woods

Recommended For: 

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**Thank you to Penguin Young Readers for providing a copy for review!**

The Night Raven (The Moonwind Mysteries #1) by Johan Rundberg

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The Night Raven
Author: Johan Rundberg
Translator: A.A. Prime
Published November 1st, 2023 by Amazon Crossing Kids

Summary: Mika is not your average orphan—and she’s about to prove it.

It’s 1880, and in the frigid city of Stockholm, death lurks around every corner. Twelve-year-old Mika knows that everyone in her orphanage will struggle to survive this winter. But at least the notorious serial killer the Night Raven is finally off the streets…or is he?

Mika is shocked when a newborn baby is left at the orphanage in the middle of the night, by a boy with a cryptic message. Who is he? And who is this “Dark Angel” he speaks of? When a detective shows up, Mika senses something even more sinister is going on.

Drawn in by Mika’s unique ability to notice small details—a skill Mika has always used to survive—the gruff Detective Hoff unwittingly recruits her to help him with his investigation into a gruesome murder. Mika knows she should stay far, far away, and yet…with such little hope for her future, could this be an opportunity? Maybe, just maybe, this is Mika’s chance to be someone who matters.

Praise: 

★“This gripping, fast-paced mystery comes together well, with Mika’s deductions based firmly in logic and connections based in her own clear observations…A thrilling and thoughtful period murder mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Mika is a brave, resourceful heroine, and her warm relationships with Valdemar and her peers at the orphanage counterbalance the bleak backdrop.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Originally published in Sweden, the novel ends with justice done and, for Mika, a newfound sense of purpose. While not every mystery introduced is solved, this is only the first volume in the Moonwind Mysteries series.” ―Booklist

★“This English translation of Rundberg’s lively historical mystery…is something to celebrate…Joyous, funny, suspenseful, and serious—an unusual and winning combination for middle-grade readers. Let’s hope its three sequels appear in [A. A.] Prime’s English translation, too.” —The Horn Book (starred review)

“Middle-school-age historical mystery fans will appreciate the fast-moving story and intriguing setting, as well as the splashes of humor throughout.” ―Historical Novels Review

“It’s a testament to the authors that none of the solutions comes easily — in any good mystery story, truth is a messy and painful business.”  —The New York Times Book Review

About the Author & Translator:

Johan Rundberg is an award-winning author of children’s books who lives in Stockholm. He has written picture books, early readers, and middle grade, including Kärlekspizzan, Knockad Romeo, and the series Häxknuten. In 2021, he was awarded Sweden’s most prestigious literary prize, the August Prize, in the children’s and YA category for Nattkorpen, the original edition of The Night Raven, which was first written in Swedish. Nattkorpen was also the winner of a Swedish Crimetime Award in the children’s and YA category. There are now four books in this series published in Sweden.

A. A. Prime (Annie Prime) is an award-winning translator of Swedish literature. She was born in London and traveled the world studying a number of languages before settling in the English coastal town of Hastings. She now works full-time as a translator, specializing in the weird, witty, and wonderful world of children’s and young adult fiction. She holds an MA in translation from University College London and has published more than twenty books in the UK and US. In her free time, she can be found belly dancing, folk singing, horse riding, and sea swimming.

Review: Mika is such an impressive detective! Following her unexpected journey helping Detective Hoff solve a murder, the reader gets insight into her process of finding and following clues–very Sherlock Holmes-y! I was a bit worried, at first, that the story was going to be slow because it starts with something that seems so unrelated to what the book promises, but not long after everything starts to happen and we learn later that the beginning definitely connects to the story.

I read this book in one sitting because I had to know what was going on in the town, and I cannot wait to read more mysteries for Mika to solve, mostly now that we know Mika, the detective, and a few other orphans more–I want their story to continue!

I do want to add that this is a bit of a dark book–there are definitely murders,  mentions of abuse & neglect, and has some scary parts. I can definitely think of so many readers in middle school that are going to love this book, but I wanted to make sure adults know that the author did not go light on the themes, descriptions, or topics. But in the end, there is definitely hope, which is the most important in a grim story.

Tools for Navigation: This book is going to be a perfect book to hand to your middle school readers that are looking for mysteries, even if they aren’t interested in historical stories because the mystery and darkness will suck them in.

Discussion Questions: 

  • What makes Mika a wonderful detective?
  • How does the author bring insight into the lives of orphans in the 19th century? What was life like for them?
  • How would you describe Mika’s life at the beginning of the book versus at the end of the book?
  • Do you think the detective was smart or careless in having Mika help him with the case?
  • Did you catch any of the clues Mika did to figure out who had committed the murder?
  • Were you surprised by the connections between the murderer and Mika’s orphanage?
  • Do you think all of the secrets within the orphanage were necessary?
  • How would the story be different if it was from the point of view of the detective? The murderer? Edvin? Rufus?
  • How is the setting a part of the story? How is it different from where you live?
  • What is the mood of the book?

Flagged Passages/Spreads: 

Chapter 3

Mika has learned to identify where most customers work. The ones from the tanneries are recognizable by the smell. The ones from the tobacco factory have stained hands. The men in the corner are neither. They’re not in uniform, but Mika can tell they’re cops. She can tell because everyone else is avoiding their gaze. No one else is sitting anywhere near them. As if the violence surrounding them gives off a stench.

Mika puts the tankards down on their table. The larger of the two men signals to her to fill the smaller glasses as well. She fetches a bottle from the cupboard behind the bar. The big man’s hand shakes as he reaches for the glass. Not with cold or drunkenness. This is something else. It only takes one quick glance for Mika to see the same thing she saw in that boy last night. Fear.

She fills the glasses while the men continue talking in low voices.

“Nordell and I were first on the scene,” says the big guy. “Looking back, I wish we hadn’t gone in such a rush.”

He raises his glass and grimaces as the liquor pours down his throat.

“The body was pretty much drained of blood, like the kill of a hunt.”

The thinner man raises his eyebrows. “I thought you said he was alive when you arrived?”

The big man looks grimly at his empty glass. Then nods. “Barely. We came just in time to hear his last words. He said . . .” He turns his empty schnapps glass upside down hopefully and drips the dregs onto his tongue before leaning over the table and concluding his sentence in a hushed tone: “. . . that the Night Raven had come for him.”

Mika lingers at the next table. With her back turned to the men, she pretends to wipe a dropped knife on her dress. Behind her she hears the thinner man’s incredulous voice.

“You must have heard wrong. You can’t possibly mean that . . .”

Read This If You Love: Murder mysteries, Historical mysteries

Recommended For: 

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**Thank you to Blue Slip Media for providing a copy for review!**

Author Guest Post: “Introducing Young Readers to Historical Fiction” by Deborah Hopkinson, Author of The Adventures of Trim

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“Introducing Young Readers to Historical Fiction”

I love history and inventing new ways to make it exciting to young readers, whether I’m writing nonfiction or fiction. But as I tell students at school and library author visits, lots of my experiments don’t work out. And that was nearly the case with my new intermediate series, the Adventures of Trim. 

These are short, 48-page early chapter books, enhanced by the delightful art of Kristy Caldwell. Trim Sets Sail and Trim Helps Out publish from Peachtree in October 2023. Two more titles are slated for 2024. 

The Trim books are my first venture into this short format. Trim and his non-human friends are at the center of the story, and that’s new for me too. (I’ve written only one picture book with a talking animal before.)  But although they have talking animals, the books draw on history. They also include back matter:  author’s notes to introduce the genre and point out aspects of the story inspired by real events. I’m excited about this format, but it took a long time to get here!

The Real Trim

I first came across the story of the real Trim more than five years ago. His owner was British explorer Matthew Flinders (1774-1814). Flinders, who decided to become an explorer after reading Robinson Crusoe as a boy, led the first western expedition to circumnavigate Australia at the turn of the nineteenth century. The HMS Investigator crew members included a naturalist, a botanical artist, and a landscape painter. 

There was also a ship’s cat named Trim, a feisty feline who appears to have charmed everyone on board. And like cat lovers today who share tales of their feline companions on social media, Flinders had many amusing stories about Trim’s adventures and antics. Trim learned to swim when he fell overboard as a kitten; he survived a shipwreck; he even traveled on a London stagecoach when the two visited England between expeditions. 

Trim was likely killed during the time Flinders was imprisoned by the French on the island of Mauritius, but Flinders didn’t forget his beloved cat. Lost for many years, his short tribute to Trim was discovered among his papers in the 1970s. It’s a warm-hearted, humorous, and remarkably modern-sounding account. 

And as soon as I read it, I knew I had to write about this intrepid pair, who are memorialized in statues in both Australia and England. 

But how? 

Finding a Way into the Story

After trying (and failing) with Trim as a picture book, I put it aside for a couple of years. But I didn’t entirely forget about it. I’m lucky to have an enthusiastic young reader in my life: my grandson, Oliver, now seven. Reading is our favorite activity together. As Oliver and I devoured ready-to-reads and short chapter books, I noticed that while fiction and nonfiction abounds, we found few historical fiction titles. And rarely did books for this age group include back matter. 


Oliver’s Drawing of Trim

Oliver and I are fans of Peachtree’s King and Kayla series, written by Dori Hillestad Butler and illustrated by Nancy Meyers. And when my Peachtree editor Kathy Landwehr happened to mention she was a cat lover, I wondered: Might Trim work in this format for newly independent readers?  Fortunately for me, Kathy and Peachtree were willing to take a chance. And I was thrilled to be paired with the multi-talented Kristy Caldwell, who also illustrated my picture book Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers Rights.

Exploring the World to Learn New Things

I think I can speak for Kristy also to say we are both excited to introduce a young audience to the genre of historical fiction through the Trim books. While the non-human characters (Trim, ship’s dog Penny, a grouchy parrot named Jack, and a rat called Princess Bea) have their own adventures, Kristy and I both have made use of online library and museum resources in England and Australia to research the expedition, the ship, and maritime customs of the early nineteenth century. 

And while Trim’s adventures are very much in the realm of fiction, I’ve been able to use  details from Flinders’s tribute, incorporating an episode where Trim falls overboard, Trim’s devotion to patrolling the hold, and his habit of stealing food off forks at the captain’s table. 

Each book contains an author’s note as well as a photo of one of the statues of Flinders and Trim. I begin by introducing the genre: “Trim Sets Sail is a made-up story about a real cat who lived in the past. We call this kind of story historical fiction.” The author’s note for each book includes information about Flinders and Trim, and sometimes short quotes from Flinders’s tribute. 

As Penny tells Trim, the goal of their expedition is to explore the world to learn new things. And I hope the Trim books encourage kids to do just that.

Also, as someone who writes about history, I am passionate about the importance of doing oral histories, preserving family stories, and writing about our lives.  After all, if Matthew Flinders had not taken the time to pen a remembrance of his cat, we wouldn’t know about Trim today. 

So I close each author’s note with some words of encouragement: “What adventures will you have and write about?”

Because you just never know. Maybe a century or two from now, someone will decide to write about you and your pet!

Trim Sets Sail (10/3/2023)
Trim Helps Out (10/24/23)
Author: Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrator: Kristy Caldwell
Published by Peachtree

About Trim Sets Sail: One small kitten learns about the great big world as he sets sail with his fellow shipmates, animal and human, in this historical fiction intermediate reader.

When Trim trips over a napping dog, little does he know that soon he’ll set sail and begin learning how to be a ship’s cat. Among his first lessons: the parts of the ship (the front is called the bow, like “bow wow”), the dynamics among his new colleagues (Jack the ship’s parrot is not so easy to befriend), and basic skills like climbing (up is easier than down) and swimming. With the assistance of Captain Flinders, Penny the ship’s dog, and Will the ship’s artist, Trim learns new skills, tests his limits and abilities, and finds a way to contribute to life onboard.

This delightful early reader series by acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson is inspired by the true story of Trim, often called the most famous ship’s cat in history. Owned by British explorer Matthew Flinders, Trim traveled on the HMS Investigator on the first expedition to circumnavigate Australia (1801–1803).

About Trim Helps Out: Trim is eager to do a good job on his first day as ship’s cat—but what is his job? All around him, members of the crew are busy with their responsibilities—too busy to notice a small kitten looking for an opportunity to contribute. Jack the parrot directs Trim to the hold, to patrol for rats. But Jack neglects to tell Trim exactly what a rat is. Surely Princess Bea, the new friend he meets below deck, isn’t a rat. She doesn’t resemble the creepy, scary-looking creature that Jack warned Trim about and she’s happy to have an assistant to fetch her biscuits from the galley.

About the Author: .Deborah Hopkinson is the author of more than seventy books for children and teens, including Carter Reads the Newspaper, illustrated by Don Tate, and Thanks to Frances Perkins, illustrated by Kristy Caldwell. Deborah lives in Oregon with her family, some noisy canaries, two dogs, and Beatrix the cat. Visit her online at DeborahHopkinson.com.

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And don’t miss out on the KidLitTV Feature Airing Soon! View the promo HERE!

Thank you, Deborah, for bringing historical fiction to our newest readers!

Author Guest Post: “After the Little House Books” by Susan Lynn Meyer, Author of A Sky Full of Song

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“After the Little House Books”

Maybe you have a child or student who absolutely loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books and who feels forlorn at reaching the end of the series.  Or maybe you’re wary about introducing these books into your house or classroom, given recent critiques of the books’ representation of Native and Black people, attitudes particularly voiced by Ma.

What other books can you turn to?

Here are some other middle-grade novels about this period in history from a variety of different perspectives that you might want to have in your classroom or library to hand to a young reader.

PRAIRIE LOTUS by Linda Sue Park (Boston: Clarion Books, 2020).

Linda Sue Park grew up loving the Little House books but wishing that she could see herself in them, as she explains in her author’s note.  The result was this novel, in which she imagines a way that a half-white, half-Chinese (or in fact, as Hanna later learns, one-fourth Chinese, one-fourth Korean) girl could have ended up in DeSmet, South Dakota.  Park’s main character, fourteen-year-old Hanna, has come from California in 1880 with her father to the small town of LaForge, where he opens a dry good shop.  Hanna dreams of getting her diploma and then becoming a dressmaker in her father’s shop—but she must struggle against her father’s resistance and the biases of the townspeople to achieve her dreams.

BIRCHBARK HOUSE by Louise Erdrich (NY: Hyperion, 1999).

An Ojibwa girl, seven-year-old Omakayas, lives contentedly with her family on Turtle Island in Lake Superior in the 1840s, learning in detail the everyday ways of her people.  When a white fur trader, passing through, brings smallpox to their community, her people are devastated by the disease—and through the devastation, Omakayas finds herself in the role of healer and also learns the grievous story of her past.  The narrative continues in later books in the series.  Perfect for students who want another series of novels.

FOLLOW ME DOWN TO NICODEMUS TOWN by A. LaFaye, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell (Albert Whitman, 2019).

Not a middle-grade novel, but a longer picture book, this one tells the story of Dede, who sees a notice offering land to Black people in Kansas.  She and her parents leave their life of sharecropping in the South and head to Nicodemus, Kansas, a town founded in the 1870s by formerly enslaved people, where they stake a claim and achieve a home of their own for the first time.

MAY B. by Caroline Starr Rose (NY: Random House, 2012).

This verse novel tells the dramatic and somber story of twelve-year old May B. in nineteen-century Kansas.  May B. struggles in school and her parents, in need of money, arrange for her to live as a hired girl with the Oblingers, a young couple homesteading in an isolated dugout fifteen miles from May’s home.  When the depressed young wife flees and Mr. Oblinger heads off to find her, May finds herself alone and struggling to survive for months until her father returns to bring her home for Christmas.  This verse novel is perfect for struggling readers, as it is about a girl with reading challenges and because it tells its story in few words.

A dear friend of mine, a severely dyslexic poet / college professor, once told me that she turned to poetry as a young person because you got more meaning out of it per word—the struggle over each word had a bigger payoff.  Poetry or verse novels may be perfect for a dyslexic reader you know

And my book:

A SKY FULL OF SONG by Susan Lynn Meyer (NY: Union Square Kids, 2023).

Eleven-year old Shoshana and her large family flee the persecution they face as Jews in the Russian Empire and come to North Dakota in 1906 where they struggle to farm the land while living in a dugout.  Shoshana takes a fierce joy in the beauty of the prairie and in her family’s new animals, but her beloved older sister Libke misses their Ukrainian village and has a harder time learning English and making friends.  Soon the sisters are at odds for the first time ever.  Shoshana finds herself hiding her Jewish identity in the face of prejudice, while Libke insists on preserving it.  Shoshana has to look deep within herself to realize that her family’s difference is their greatest strength.  By listening to the music that has lived in her heart all along, Shoshana finds new meaning in the Jewish expression all beginnings are difficult, as well as in the resilience and traditions her people have brought all the way to the North Dakota prairie.

Praise: 

“A different kind of prairie story has arisen, one that seeks in some manner to correct the past.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Meyer layers richly detailed depictions of Jewish traditions, stunning descriptions of the landscape, and a highly sympathetic narrator to convey an underreported historical arc.”—Publishers Weekly

“Frequent parallels to the Little House series accentuate how different Shoshana’s experience is from the White, Christian, mythically American lives of her classmates . . . . A moving, gently kind coming-to-America story.”—Kirkus Reviews

Possible read-alike exercises for students:

If your students read a Wilder novel paired with one of the read-alike books above, or if your students instead read two of the books above, it might be fun (as former teacher Stephanie Fitzgerald suggests on Goodreads—thank you!) to have them create Venn diagrams of the two books.

Draw two large, overlapping circles.  In the overlapping space, list what the two books have in common.  In the rest of each circle list elements that are different in the two books.  Color in each circle or add drawings for an extra element of fun!

About the Author: Susan Lynn Meyer is the author of two previous middle-grade historical novels—Black Radishes, a Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner, and Skating with the Statue of Liberty—as well as three picture books. Her works have won the Jane Addams Peace Association Children’s Book Award and the New York State Charlotte Award, as well as many other honors. Her novels have been chosen as Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selections, included among Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, and translated into German and Chinese. She is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Wellesley College and lives outside Boston.

Thank you, Susan, for this read-alike list!