Review: The Highgate Cemetery Murder

Gemma Tate’s brother is dead. Cryptic messages in his pocket journal suggest that he might have been murdered. Inspector Sebastian Bell is trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his supervisor. He’s been handed a murder case where a young aristocrat was murdered then put on display in Highgate Cemetery. Gemma brings her concerns to the police and soon she and Sebastian realize the two cases are definitely connected. Danger seems to lurk everywhere as the pair try to bring the killer to justice.

“Murder at Highgate Cemetery” is a great start to a new series by Irina Shapiro. Mid-19th Century London is brought to life with a lively cast of characters. Both Gemma and Sebastian have trauma in their pasts and find sympathetic ears in each other. It is a quick read when you’re looking for an atmospheric mystery.

This book is great for those who like historical mysteries and historical mystery series.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Storm Publishing for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: Ghostly Guide to Alcatraz

“The Ghostly Guide to Alcatraz” is part of the Eerie Expeditions Around the World Series. Readers are taken on a quick tour of the island, the prison, and its history. Interspersed are suggestions of hauntings, strange sounds, and general creepiness. 

The overview of the island and its prison is good, but there is only a suggestion of eeriness (well, except for cell 14-D. That one is well done with the text and photo hitting just the right level of creepiness).

The photographs of Alcatraz are great. They give a clear picture of what the site looks like today. Photos of several inmates are of high quality as well.

This book is great for kids who want to learn about historic landmarks or about creepy places. It’s not very scary and none of the tales of hauntings go into any depth. “The Ghostly Guide to Alcatraz” would make a great gift for a kid who will be visiting Alcatraz in the near future.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Gareth Stevens Publishing, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: How to Train Your Amygdala

“How to Train Your Amygdala” helps young children learn to appropriately tame their fight or flight response. The amygdala is portrayed as a creature with fuzzy fur (I’d personally like a plushie of this little guy for my classroom) who often overreacts to situations. However, with proper training it learns to tame its reactions to daily life. This delightful story and illustrations make a pretty complex topic comprehensible to young children.

I love that author Anna Housley Juster makes it clear that our amygdala is important and helps protect us, so we don’t want to punish it. We just need to train it to recognize real danger. 

Similar to many other books in this category, there are tips for adults to help their little ones. There are specific instructions for different kinds of breathing exercises (one example is box breathing)  to help “tame” your amygdala.

This book is great for kids (and their adults) who experience anxiety or otherwise have trouble regulating emotions.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Teacher Created Materials, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: Guts for Glory

Lyons Wakeman was a real soldier during the Civil War. He fought bravely and wrote letters home about those experiences. Thankfully, those letters were saved and now we can see the true story of Lyons’ life. Using the letters, author Joanna Lapati shows us that Lyons was in fact Rosetta Wakeman who wanted something more than life on a farm. She is one of many women who disguised themselves as men and fought during the war.

The story is clear and concise, but rich with detail. The artwork is stunning and an integral part of the story. It effectively captures the mood of the tale and is careful not to glorify war. 

This book is great for kids interested in history and the Civil War, in particular. It would also be a great addition to a classroom library for older students (even high school) as a resource to share varied experiences of soldiers during the Civil War.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: Folktales for Fearless Girls

“Folktales for Fearless Girls” is a collection of folktales from around the world that feature spunky, smart, clever, kind, and fearless girls and women. Author Samantha Newman’s adaptations of the stories are short and use language accessible to young children. Khoa Le’s illustrations are detailed and colorful. They often enhance the tension in the stories.

I love that the girls in the stories are praised for their cleverness. I found it interesting that several wanted to live apart from their groups either to experience solitude or to live in harmony with nature. Each of the girls in these stories is unique.

This book is great for people of all ages who like traditional folktales or stories featuring strong female characters. 

Classroom Considerations: This book would be great to have as an example if students are studying folktales. “Folktales for Fearless Girls” could also be used as a read aloud at times when only a few minutes are left in class. Most of the stories would take 5-15 minutes to read aloud. It would be great if teachers could get access to a slide deck of the illustrations to project in class. This would help students visualize the stories and also give them a great example of illustrations to match a folktale.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Arcturus Publishing for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: The Diamond of London

In “The Diamond of London,” Andrea Penrose takes on the life of Lady Hester Stanhope in a riveting historical fiction biography. One of the things I really love about Penrose’s books is that they are well-researched and provide historical context for her characters. This is an excellent example of historical fiction that makes the reader curious about the real story**. 

Lady Hester Stanhope moved at the highest levels of British Society, but her desires and intellect were constrained by rigid rules and expectations for women. “The Diamond of London” focuses on a short period of her life in the early 1800s when she advised her uncle, the Prime Minister, designed gardens, and had relationships that brought her to the brink of disaster. Lady Hester is not always likable as she struggles to find her place in life, but Penrose finds a way to make the reader care about her. 

Penrose, as always, includes an extensive afterword to describe her process. She also includes a reading list just in case you want to go down the rabbit hole (you will) to learn more about Lady Hester’s real life.  

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Kensington Books, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

**Personally, I’ve always found historical fiction to be a fantastic entry point to the study of a particular historical figure or era (e.g. Laura Ingalls Wilder and the American West after reading “Little House in the Big Wood” and “Little House on the Prairie”). As a history teacher, I like having lots of historical fiction in my classroom to entice my students into exploring real history.

Review: Murder by Lamplight

“Murder by Lamplight” features Dr. Julia Lewis who generally treats the working poor in Whitechapel at a clinic that she runs with her grandfather. Because of her grandfather’s illness, she arrives at a construction site where a murder victim has been found. The victim has been…mutilated. Her insights help Inspector Richard Tennant get on the trail of a vicious killer, but there are hints that Julia herself may be a target of the murderer.

Parts of the story, particularly the descriptions of the murder victims, are grittier than I prefer, but they do serve a purpose. First, the brutality of the killings points to an unthinkable motive and second, the descriptions emphasize the fact that Julia is used to seeing horrific things in her work and is not phased by it.

One of the things I really liked about “Murder by Lamplight” is that it is taking place shortly after Dr. John Snow’s work in pinpointing the source of a cholera outbreak in 1850s London. That work marks the beginning of modern public health, but the doctor faced an uphill battle in getting decision-makers to listen to him (in other words, most people still believed that disease was caused by bad smells). Added to this is the exploration of the London sewer project happening at the time. There is considerable discussion in the novel about the changes that are taking place in the medical profession and in public health.

This book is great for those who like gritty Victorian era mysteries.

CW: descriptions of human mutilation, sexual assault, and violence against the LGBTQ community.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Kensington Books, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review: Sisters of Fortune

 When the Fortune sisters board the ill-fated Titanic they are ending a months-long Grand Tour with their parents, brother, and assorted friends from Canada. The sisters each feel they are at a crossroads. Will the eldest sister, Flora, return to a life of safe, but dull respectability? Middle sister Alice has discovered a love for adventure, but what will happen when she tells her fiance? And youngest, Mabel, pushes against expectations, wishing to take life by the horns. For each of them, their choices, and their futures, come into focus when the Titanic hits the iceberg. Things will never be the same for the Fortune family.

“Sisters of Fortune” masterfully blends a triple story line (the three sisters) with the timeline of the Titanic disaster. Anna Lee Huber’s attention to detail about the ship, the ill-fated journey across the Atlantic, and the lives of the first class passengers is impressive. I appreciate that Huber acknowledges and gives sensitive treatment to the trauma that real survivors of the Titanic must have felt.

Be sure to read the author’s note about the origins of this story!

“Sisters of Fortune” is great for those who like historical fiction and tales from the Titanic. 

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Kensington Books for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.