This month's book reviews

Adventures of a young boy who lived
in the Tower of London of the 1730's

Forrest Harper was eleven years old and lived with his family inside the walls of the prison fortress known as the Tower of London. His father had the job of taking care of the ravens that lived in the Tower and were kept there under the King's protection. Forrest lived in a small cottage that he shared with his father, mother, and younger sister. His whole life, however, was pretty much spent inside the walls of the Tower. Once in a while, his family would venture outside the walls, usually on days that there was a public hanging or beheading.

Forrest took after his mother, who was short, and not his father, who was a tall and imposing man and sometimes responsible for guarding some of the prisoners locked up in the tower. Forrest was kept busy all the time, helping his father take care of the ravens, taking food to prisoners, running errands for his mother, and performing various other chores. Of course, being an imaginative boy, he thought he was overworked. He often tried to imagine living outside the Tower walls. He liked to play pirate or soldier when he had a chance to pretend. His best friend was his pet raven that he was trying to teach to talk.

Forrest didn't like to watch hangings or beheadings. He felt sorry for the victims, but knew that he was supposed to be glad when traitors were executed. So he was really bothered when a pretty young Scottish girl from a family of rebel nobles was brought to the Tower and put under his father's watch. As he came to know her, he realized that she was not the evil traitor that she was accused of being. He knew that she was eventually going to be beheaded. He also knew that if he helped her to escape and was discovered, he would be hanged and his family disgraced. Would he dare to play any part in an escape plan that a member of the girl's family was trying to put into effect? Without Forrest's help, the plan would never work.

 

Could an old house that dad wants to fix up
really have ghosts in it?

There are two girls in this story who have unusual powers. Charli Bellard is cousin to the Crandalls, a family that includes includes four-year-old twins, a two-year-old, and a sixteen year-old brother. Their parents, Charli's aunt and uncle, are very laid back people. Their house is always chaotic, but they all enjoy life. The father, Uncle Will, has bought the old run-down mansion in town and wants to fix it up and make it a bed and breakfast. Charli's unusual power is an ability to sense the presence of spirits or ghosts that other do not see. She really doesn't want her uncle to buy the old mansion.

Sophia is a fourteen-year-old orphan girl from another town. When her elderly guardian is hospitalized, she is sent to her nearest relatives - the Crandalls. Her strange power is the ability to foresee events - especially bad things - before they happen. Once she sees the old mansion, she has really bad vibes about it. Unfortunately, she and Charli get off to a bad start. At first, they don't like each other, so they do not share their uneasy feelings about Uncle Will's plans regarding the old mansion.

Charli is really disturbed when her Uncle Will offers her a summer job helping to fix up the old mansion. On her first time in the house, she senses the presence of some kind of disturbed ghost or spirit. She is really alarmed when one of the two-year-olds reports seeing a figure in the old house that Charli knows could not be a real person.

It turns out that many years in the past the mansion had been the scene of a murder. Could the ghost of the murderer still be in the house? Could the ghost be a danger to those entering the house, especially the little children? Can Charli and Sophia combine their strange powers in a way to keep anyone from possibly being killed by the ghostly presence in the old mansion?

 

A story of the potato famine in Ireland
and the struggle to reach a new life

The "Maggie" in "Maggie's Door" is a young woman who had already reached America from her home in Ireland and was settled in Brooklyn. This little book tells the story of Maggie's sister, Nory, and her efforts to reach Brooklyn. Paralleling her efforts, are those of Sean Red Mallon, a neighbor of the girls who is trying to complete the same trip.

The reason these Irish immigrants to America are leaving their beloved Ireland is because a terrible blight had ruined the one crop that kept the poor people in Ireland from starving - potatoes. The blight caused the food crop to rot in the ground. At the time, nobody knew how to stop the destruction. Every ship possible, including old, leaky, unsafe vessels, was being pressed into service to transport these unfortunate people to what they hoped would be a better life in America.

Nory's story is that of the poorest passengers traveling in the worst quarters to be found on the ship. Conditions were horrible. People were crowded in leaky sections below decks, ill to the point of many of them dying, and without adequate food to eat. Sean's story is just a little different. Since he seemed healthy and able to work, he was given a job in the galley or cooking part of the ship. He was able to get food, but he had to endure the cruel treatment form the head cook, who was not beyond killing his helpers in his blind rages.

As their tale is told, we are never sure whether the two young Irish travelers are going to make it safely to America or not. We can be sure, however, that their story is similar to that of thousands of Irish immigrants who made their ways to our country. Some of these young people may be among our own ancestors.