What Katy Did At School by Susan Coolidge is the second book in the marvellous Carr Family series, that is every bit as entertaining as when it was written in the 1870’s.
As the title suggests the reader follows Katy and her younger sister Clover to boarding school for a year. The reader is enchanted by their everyday lives.
Katy and Clover have hearts of gold. They see those that others reject and they spread goodness and kindness wherever they go.
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What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge is the most charming historical YA novel. It was written in the 1870’s but has withstood the test of time. It is the first book in the Carr Family series.
I had heard of What Katy Did but never actually read it in my childhood – I have been missing out. It is delightful. We hear about the everyday life of twelve year old Katy and her younger siblings. The book is set in a far simpler time where a child’s imagination was fertile. There was much love and fun to be had.
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Hidden Pearl by J.E. Laufer is a YA inspiring true account of the author’s Mother-in-law Pearl’s experiences as a child during World War II.
Pearl was ten years old at the outbreak of war. Her family of eleven were Jewish and lived in Poland which the Nazis over-ran. Her story is one of incredible bravery and tenacity.
As a child Pearl’s best hope of survival was to hide her faith and live with strangers, doing chores. She was separated from her family, surviving on hope.
Hidden Pearl is a remarkable story of courage in one so young, at a time of great evil. Pearl never forgot her faith but hung on silently and secretly.
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The Key To Flambards by Linda Newbery is a wonderful contemporary tale following on from K.M. Peyton’s fabulous Flambards series.
This book brings us bang up to date as it is set one hundred years after the original books. In this tale we meet the direct descendants of Christina Russell and we return to the original setting. “Decisions made by Christina nearly a hundred years ago had led to them all sitting here now.” Little has changed in the surrounding area.
Flambards is once more a place of scars and healing. Previously there were scars from hunting accidents and World War I. Today there are scars from a car accident and serving in Afghanistan. There are visible scars and there are those hidden deep within.
Discovering old artefacts enables the modern characters to get to know those who lived and loved in the past at Flambards.
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