Santa Fé mi casa Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Dr. Hague has written a unique novel. It contains romance, adventure, human suffering set in the background of the broader conflict of the Mexican-American War. He follows the protagonist, John Henry, from blissful first love in Sante Fe, across the brutal terrain of the southwest deserts and mountain passes to the coastal plain of disputed California. The readers heart will ache with the young man's misery of body and soul. The action gradually picks up reaching a perfect crescendo at the end of the book. The writing is spotless and the dialogue crisp and believable. This is a book that is unlike most others, and hard to pin down to one genre, as it contains the best elements of several. I highly recommend this book and look forward to what this erudite author may have in store for us as screen plays.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Santa Fé mi casa

John Henry Harris is a dragoon in the United States Army of the West that invades northern Mexico in 1846. The young soldier is eager to wave the flag and fight for his country. But John Henry's world is soon turned upside down. In Santa Fé he meets Morita and falls in love. Finding no enemies in New Mexico, John Henry questions whether he can support this war against a people who have committed no wrong against him or the United States. He is torn between conflicting passions of loyalty, justice, duty and love. The idyll ends when the army leaves Santa Fé to carry the conquest to California. John Henry longs for Morita and a life with her in the little adobe house in Santa Fé.

Click here for more information about Santa Fé mi casa

Read More...

Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm surprised to see very few reviews posted here for this excellent award-winning work of historical fiction for middle readers. This Scott O'Dell Award winner about African-American life in the South is in the same tradition as the renowned "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" books by Mildred Taylor.
Here we get on an emotional roller-coaster ride as we follow the lives of three young ex-slaves during the early days of Reconstruction in 1865. Gideon returns from following General Sherman to his former plantation to retrieve his younger crippled brother, Pascal, and his orphaned friend Nelly. In their quest to find the "forty acres and maybe a mule" in Georgia, that had been promised by General Sherman, they befriend a grandfatherly carpenter, and his long-lost granddaughter, to create a new family.
The harsh realities of unjust treatment by white nightriders, who are trying to force emancipated slaves to return to their plantations, are tempered by various friendly white people who help them find their forty acres, open a school for the children, register them to vote, who become neighbors, etc.
This is a story of determination, hard work, rebuilding lives and families, of hope, peace, and love, in the face of discrimination and cruelty.
A seldom recognized historical fact is woven into this well-researched tale: the party of Lincoln, the Republican Party, was the original party of Civil Rights. The impact of the death of Lincoln on these emancipated slaves that were given land is dramatically portrayed here. And the quick backpedaling of his successor, Andrew Johnson, becomes a painful reality for nearly 39,000 black landowners just months after he takes office.
This book deserves a wider reading by upper elementary through middle school students and their teachers, especially when discussing the facts surrounding the impact of the Civil War and early Reconstruction efforts in the South.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule

Click here for more information about Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule

Read More...