Sunday Synopsis

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

During the summer of 1793, there was an outbreak of Yellow Fever that killed about 5,000 of the 50,000 residents of Philadelphia. The main character is 14 year old Mattie Cook, a hard worker determined to see her family's business, The Cook Coffeehouse, succeed. Then, Mattie loses her childhood friend to the disease. Then her mother becomes ill, and there is a possibility she will get well. Her grandfather and Mattie must try to leave Philadelphia in hopes of staying free from illness, but things do not go as planned.

The novel is mostly fiction, but the time period, and the events happening during the time period are real. You will get a sense of the culture of Philadelphia in the late 18th, but you won't be overwhelmed with historical details. Mattie is a likeable protagonist.

I only gave this three stars because it didn't move as quickly as I had hoped it would. It is also recommended reading for middle grades, but, except for a few students with a working knowledge of history, some of the details may get lost while attempting to read for comprehension. I don't think the average middle grade student would find it exciting enough to fully keep their attention. Most of my middle schoolers say it is "good" or "okay" but never "great."

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Thursday Thirteen

Welcome to Thursday Thirteen, a fun meme to play.

Today I'm listing some quotes that speak to me in my current situation.

1.  Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.

Dave Mustaine

2. 

3.  Recovery begins from the darkest moment. 

John Major 

4. 

5. Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Khalil Gibran

6.

7.  I have sadness in me. I have anger in me. I have heartbreak in me.

 Ellen DeGeneres

8.

9.  History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, 

need not be lived again.

 Maya Angelou

10.

11.  There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time. 

Malcolm X

12.  

13.  People do stupid things... words are important. 

Rodney Frelinghuysen

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/

Random Tuesday

Hi all.  Not feeling very random today.  I'm dealing with some emotional issues right now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Here's a pun for you before you leave:

Sunday Synopsis

First There Was Silence by Leonie Haubrich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think 3 stars may have been too generous. I almost gave up on this book. There were several characters that were difficult to keep separate due to their names and nicknames, and the author did nothing to endear any of the characters to the audience.

First you are introduced to a foster mom who doesn't want to return a baby to the parents. She seems a little nutty. The biological mom, you learn much later, had lost a child to SIDS during her first marriage. Her current husband knew nothing about it until their daughter is kidnapped. Most of the story is about the search for Lotta.

The characters are not developed such that you root for one over the other; in fact, I didn't really like any of the characters including the police. I honestly did not care if they ever found Lotta or not.

I believe this was written in German because they cover says, "translated by Ruth A. Gentes Krawczyk." Perhaps that was one reason I couldn't get into it. I sooo contemplated abandoning this book, and now that I've finished it, I would have been good with the choice to abandon. Sorry, folks. This one is slow, unrealistic, and not suspenseful.

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Random Tuesday

I'm linking up with Stacy.

Hello!  We just returned from a mini-vacay.  Can you tell what city we visited?

Please leave a guess in the comments.

Summer is flying by, and I don't like it one bit!  How's your summer going?

Image Credit

Did anyone catch the Homerun Derby yesterday?  Congratulations to Pete Alonso from the Mets.  He did a great job, but the duel between Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Joc Pederson?  3 ties!  I was rooting for Guerrero, not that I have anything against Pederson or Alonso.  I know nothing about them.  But, I think it's cool that it was a rookie who won.

I really don't have any news or interesting tidbits to share today, so I'll get to some funnies,

Sad, but true!

This is so me. In fact, it's so me that I've probably posted it before!

Also completely true!

Have a great week!