Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher.

Lawson, Jessica.  Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher.  Simon & Schuster  2014  224p  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-4814-0150-0  ms/hs       Historical fiction    E-BN 

Cleverly written in the voice of Samuel Clemens, this book provides a new twist to the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn classics.  It is so well-written that it is difficult to believe that this book was not an original in those adventures.  Jessica Lawson realistically spins a tale that weaves in the original characters from the classics and puts Becky Thatcher in the role of mischief maker, suggesting that “maybe Tom Sawyer wasn’t the REAL troublemaker.”  Incidentally, in this story Tom is a goody-goody tattle tale until Becky “fixes” him.

Becky Thatcher is new to St. Petersburg, Missouri.  She has just lost her older brother to illness and her mother to a deep depression.  As she begins school, she meets notorious characters like Sid and Tom Sawyer, the Widow Douglas, Joe Harper, Sam Clemens and others who become her new friends.  She befriends Amy Lawrence and the pair sets out on crazy adventures involving the entire community to steal a relic from the witch Widow Douglas.

Preparing for a bet, they are digging up dirt from the cemetery when they stumble upon the outlawed, grave-robbing Pritchard brothers, and their adventure turns dangerous.  Becky desperately tries to prove that the accused widow is not the grave robber, but her plans backfire, and the solution causes the problems to worsen, much in the same manner that things occurred in the Mark Twain classics.

This exciting, fun and clever novel will resonate well with young readers and can serve as a companion to the Mississippi- and Missouri-based classics by Mark Twain.  The creativity demonstrated by Jessica Lawson is unbelievably amazing!  It evoked fond memories of reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn long ago, and may quite possibly entice young readers to read these classics.

This book has been recommended as an Excellent Book of Note, provided that the story does not change from the “advanced review” copy that was evaluated.

Summary: Becky Thatcher, who is new to St. Petersburg, Missouri, has just lost her older brother, and her mother is in a deep depressive state; but Becky thrives on adventures and is able to cope and bring her brother along by taking his special bag of marbles with her.
           

Adventure-Fiction                                     --Virginia McGarvey

Lawson, Julie. Ghosts of the Titanic.

Lawson, Julie.  Ghosts of the Titanic.       Holiday House, 2011. 169p.   $16.95.  ISBN 978-0-8234-2423-8     elm/ms            Realistic Fiction          E-BN           

This story illustrates that life is not always what you think it is. Twelve-year-old Kevin Messenger first learns about the Titanic disaster when his class studies and visits the Titanic Artifact Exhibition that is touring North America. He learns about the people on the ship and the hardships imposed on the passengers. His interest is further enhanced when his father learns that he has inherited a house in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Angus Seaton, a crew member of the Mackey-Bennett (the ship that rescued people from the Titanic).  While they are at the house in Nova Scotia, Kevin starts researching the disaster. He also starts hearing from a ghost named, Annie, who is trying to find out what happened to her son, Michael.  It seems that Kevin is the only one hearing the voices, and this leads to some disciplinary action by his parents for bad behavior.  The way the author ties the story together right up to the ending will keep readers entranced and refusing to put down the novel.
SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read further if you don’t want the ending.
The fact that Angus Seaton rescued a small boy named Michael but couldn’t save his mother is heart wrenching. When he was loading Michael’s drowned mother onto the boat, Angus distractedly placed a small pocketbook into his pocket.  Events turned hectic and he forgot about it.  That error meant that Michael was never identified.  However, Margaret Dyson took care of Michael and adopted him after her marriage to George Messenger, Kevin’s grandfather.  Kevin learns the facts and answers Annie’s questions, and all ends well.        Subject: Titanic Disaster

Linda McNeil