The Great and Terrible Quest
10 best books like The Great and Terrible Quest (Margaret Lovett): Shadow Spinner, Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, The Shakespeare Stealer, The Golden Goblet, The Bronze Bow, Mara, Daughter of the Nile, Catherine, Called Birdy, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, A Single Shard, Black Horses for the King
| Author | Susan Fletcher |
| ISBN | 0689830513 |
Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher is set in Ancient Persia and it is a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights. The original tale is the story of Shaharazad, the young woman who tells stories each night to the Sultan, ending before...
| Author | Barbara Cohen |
| ISBN | 0688135633 |
In an ancient Arab nation, one woman dares to be different. Buran cannot—Buran will not—sit quietly at home and wait to be married to the man her father chooses. Determined to use her skills and earn a fortune, she instead disguises herself as a boy and travels by camel caravan to a distant city. There,...
| Author | Gary L. Blackwood |
| ISBN | 0141305959 |
Widge is an orphan with a rare talent for shorthand. His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"--or else. Widge has no choice but to follow orders, so he works his way into the heart of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's players perform. As full of twists and turns...
| Author | Eloise Jarvis McGraw |
I really liked this book when I was 11, and I really liked this book twenty-one years later. Somehow Eloise Jarvis McGraw makes Ranofer, the main character, easily relatable without turning him into a kid that thinks, talks and acts like a twentieth century American kid who happens to be living in ancient...
| Author | Elizabeth George Speare |
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. –from the Song of David (2 Samuel 22:35)
The Bronze Bow, written by Elizabeth George Speare (author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond) won the Newbery Medal in 1962. This gripping, action-packed novel tells the story of eighteen-year-old...
| Author | Eloise Jarvis McGraw |
| ISBN | 0140319298 |
Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom. In order to gain it, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies - each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt.
Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters,...
| Author | Karen Cushman |
| ISBN | 0060739428 |
"Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life."Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man--any rich man, no matter how awful. But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes...
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
I especially anticipated reading this book for a couple of reasons.
1 - I love other books by this author especially From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Jennifer, Hecate, McBeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth.
2 - The book tells the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine,...
| Author | Linda Sue Park |
| ISBN | 0440418518 |
Tree-ear, an orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch’ulp’o, a potters’ village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter’s craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear...
| Author | Anne McCaffrey |
| ISBN | 0345468635 |
"This fast-moving historical fantasy by bestselling author Anne McCaffrey traces the beginnings of the British cavalry, as recounted by a boy growing up in exciting and perilous times.
"After his father's death, young Galwyn Varianus is apprenticed to his uncle, who puts the boy to work on the...
| Author | Elizabeth Borton de Treviño |
| ISBN | 0374435251 |
**3.5 stars**
Juan de Pareja's portrait by Velázquez is my favorite painting (every time I see it, it makes me cry) so it was with trepidation and excitement that I started this audio.
The book follows the story of Juan de Pareja and his life as the slave of Diego de Velázquez, the leading...
| Author | Joanne Williamson |
| ISBN | 1883937388 |
When Uriah Tarhund's Hititte home is destroyed by invading Greeks, his dying father tells him to go seek a Canaanite named Sisera. "He will help you. For my sake...." When Uriah reaches Judea and saves a young boy from being sacrificed to Molech, he is given succor for a time by the Hebrews. Later, he finds...
| Author | S.D. Smith |
| ISBN | 0996436804 |
The stage is set. It's war. Morbin Blackhawk, slaver and tyrant, threatens to destroy the rabbit resistance forever. Heather and Picket are two young rabbits improbably thrust into pivotal roles.
The fragile alliance forged around the young heir seems certain to fail. Can Heather and Picket...
| Author | Elizabeth Gray Vining |
| ISBN | 0142406597 |
Awarded the John Newbery Medal as "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" in the year of its publication.
"A road's a kind of holy thing," said Roger the Minstrel to his son, Adam. "That's why it's a good work to keep a road in repair, like giving alms to the poor or...
| Author | Beth Hilgartner |
| ISBN | 0395616190 |
I usually criticize books, and pick on every single bad thing about them. The characters are weak... The plot was limp, and "horrid"... Or, most terribly, the storytelling was atrocious.
That wasn't the case with this book. And it pleasantly surprised me with no feminist sort of messages. "Girls...
| Author | Howard Pyle |
| ISBN | 0486217841 |
A rich and engrossing thread of Romance runs through this tale of the motherless son of a valiant robber baron of Medieval Germany. Young Otto, born into a warring household in an age when lawless chiefs were constantly fighting each other or despoiling the caravans of the merchant burghers, is raised...
| Author | Frances Temple |
| ISBN | 0064406695 |
When she and he were only babies, they were pledged in marriage. Now Atiyah has been sent away -- a political pawn in a war between the Beduin tribes in the year 1302. He vows to return to her as soon as he can.But while Atiyah is studying at the great university in Fez, Halima is lost in a sandstorm. Rescued...
| Author | Olivia E. Coolidge |
| ISBN | 0618154280 |
This book is great in some ways but it falls apart in other ways. First, the characters are absolutely amazing in their description for instance, it gives the back story of Achilles and how he was dipped into the River Styx. While it does give a detailed explanations, the book is not 100 percent accurate....
| Author | Dorothy Hoobler |
| ISBN | 0142405418 |
Dubbed as a Japanese Sherlock Holmes, The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn is a classic, yet simple, mystery with a cultural twist. I remember seeing this book in my brother's room when I was younger and the cover, despite its cheesiness, was curious about the story. Crazy thing is, he still has it, but he's across...
| Author | Eloise Jarvis McGraw |
| ISBN | 0140322558 |
Normally, I would not have bought, on impulse, a book with the boring title of "Master Cornhill." However, Eloise Jarvis McGraw just so happens to be a favorite author of mine. I am so glad that I "didn't judge a book by it's cover" and gave this novel a chance. Master Cornhill was beautifully written, with...
| Author | Susan Wise Bauer |
| ISBN | 1933339098 |
Now more than ever, other cultures are affecting our everyday lives and our children need to learn about the other countries of the world and their history. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of other lands. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this revised...
| Author | Joanne Williamson |
| ISBN | 1883937736 |
A never-before published tale by the author of the best -selling Hittite Warrior, carries the reader back to Ancient Egypt and biblical Jerusalem. It is 701 B.C - rule of the Kushite dynasty in ancient Egypt. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son, succeeds unexpectedly to the throne of Kush and...
| Author | Caroline Dale Snedeker |
| ISBN | 0966706722 |
Young Theras, born an Athenian, is taken to Sparta by a relative when his father is lost at war. He is forced to live like a Spartan, a brutal life with no pity for those who are not physically perfect and totally obedient to Spartan control. After enduring rigorous training and repeated cruel incidents,...
| Author | Eleanore M. Jewett |
| ISBN | 1883937485 |
Amidst great mystery, Hugh is left in the care of Glastonbury Abbey by his father who must flee to England too swiftly to be burdened by a crippled son.
Dicckon struck flint and lit a candle, then led the way into the dark passage. "What is this place?" asked Hugh. A sudden turn and they were in a low...
| Author | Erik Christian Haugaard |
| ISBN | 0618615121 |
When the powerful Lord Takeda’s soldiers sweep across the countryside, killing and plundering, they spare the boy Taro’s life and take him along with them. Taro becomes a servant in the household of the noble Lord Akiyama, where he meets Togan, a cook, who teaches Taro and makes his new life bearable....
| Author | Madeleine A. Polland |
| ISBN | 1887840559 |
Macha drove me insane. There I've said it. Yet I'm still able to call this book 4 stars.
Like most of what we do for Sonlight I start a lot of these books with a great deal of skepticism. I think, "This seems wordy and dull and way too detailed with the history to be any good."
Then I get through...
| Author | E.L. Konigsburg |
| ISBN | 1416903429 |
THE GREATEST ARTIST OF HIS TIME
AN APPRENTICE WITH A LARCENOUS HEART AND AN AVERSION TO THE TRUTH
A YOUNG DUTCHESS WHOSE PLAIN FACE BELIES HER BEAUTIFUL SOUL
Could the complex ways these three lives intertwine hold the key to a historical riddle as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa's smile...
| Author | Henry Winterfeld |
| ISBN | 0152162682 |
In these two delightful history-mysteries, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes . . . thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure.
It seems the boys can get nothing right: Their teacher's fiftieth birthday is long past (they...
| Author | Mary Ray |
| ISBN | 1883937434 |
Hylas is young Greek slave in the household of Caius Pomponius, a Roman Senator involved in political schemes. When the senator is found mysteriously murdered, the household slaves (including Hylas and his mother) fall under suspicion. Hylas escapes capture long enough to enlist the aid of a young...
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
| Author | Brandon Sanderson |
| ISBN | 0439925576 |
Alcatraz Smedry, the boy with the incredible Talent for breaking things, has a lot to prove and little time in which to do it. In this final adventure, Alcatraz faces an army of librarians--and their giant robots--as they battle to win the kingdom of Mokia. If the librarians win the war, everything that...
