Monday, March 31, 2025

March 2025 Books

 Personal Reading

The Bronte Plot
by Katherine Reay
Lucy Alling works in an antique and interior decorating gallery, with a sideline of selling old and rare books.  However, she has crossed the line with some questionable purchases and false book inscriptions. This puts her at odds with her boyfriend and boss, but then her boyfriend's grandmother takes her on a trip to England to deal with some of her (the grandmother's) own secrets.  Along the way, Lucy learns more about the importance of being scrupulously honest and deals with issues in her own past.

I appreciate all of Reay's books as her characters work through complicated relationships and deal with past personal and family issues, while weaving in lessons from classic literature.  In this case, it helps to have some familiarity with the Bronte sisters and their most well-known works.

Sophie
by Emma Pearse
The subtitle of this book is "The Incredible True Story of the Castaway Dog."  It's about a Blue Heeler in Australia who fell overboard from her owner's boat and was presumed dead for 5 months until she was trapped on a remote island and, by a happy series of circumstances, was immediately reunited with her owners.  The book begins with the story of how Sophie came into her owners' lives and background on their family and her puppyhood.  After she goes missing while out on their boat, the book then spends a lot of time describing her owners' grief and feelings of guilt.  It spends a little time describing the sightings of a strange dog on two different, minimally inhabited islands, and lots of speculation about how she might have gotten there and how she survived for 5 months before being trapped alive by park rangers.  And it's just that -- speculation -- because nobody knows how she lived and survived.  It was an interesting story, but it was probably longer than necessary.  A few language considerations and some routine alcohol consumption, but mostly clean.

Iron Rose
by Abigail O'Bryan



From the back cover: There is no future for Lydia Brightwood. The Crimson Lord, a tyrant bent on destroying Lydia's country, made sure of that. Her only hope of a different life is to find the one person who could unite her country: a royal heir. There's just one problem...They're all dead.  The Beast's humanity is slipping away. Shut away from the world by a horrible secret, Adam watches the destruction of his homeland from the ruins of a fortress all the while holding the devastating truth in his chest: It's his fault.  Adam and Lydia's paths cross in the ruins of the north where they must find a way to conquer the curse before everything they love collapses...but being truly human has its price.

This was an interesting twist on the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale.  The crown prince has been cursed and turned into a beast.  The curse can only be broken if the woman he loves dies to save him.  The "beauty" has suppressed all her femininity in order to lead the rebellion against the evil tyrant.  Both have to learn to trust and love and how to be fully human.  I was intrigued by the premise of the story, and I thought the execution of it was pretty good.  There are maybe some things that a more experienced author would have done better: parts of it seemed a little rushed, perhaps, or not fully fleshed-out.  The major drawback for me were the very graphic and gory battle scenes.  This is not one that I would buy.  I might enjoy reading it again, except for the graphic violence.

One Wrong Step
by Jennifer Nielsen
Fourteen-year-old Atlas goes on an expedition with his father and several other men in an attempt to scale Mt. Everest in 1939. He and a similarly aged girl are left behind at base camp while their fathers head to the summit.  When the expedition is trapped by an avalanche, Atlas and Maddie head up the mountain to attempt a rescue.  Along the way, Atlas has to deal with his past -- his trauma over losing his mother several years ago, his anger with his dad, his tendency to freeze up when he needs to make a decision.  I enjoyed the book -- for the adventure, the history and details of mountain climbing, and the growth of the characters.  Typically excellent writing that I've come to expect from Jennifer Nielsen. The only thing that struck me as being a bit "off" was the inclusion of the suspicion of an unknown Nazi lurking around somewhere on the mountain.  It didn't seem to really make sense why they would be worried about that while they are climbing Everest, even though the story is occurring at the same time as Hitler's invasion of Poland and the start of WWII.

The Librarian Spy
by Madeline Martin
An American woman is sent to Portugal during WWII to gather newspapers and books to send back to the US for intelligence gathering purposes.  Meanwhile, a French woman joins the French resistance after her husband is arrested by the Nazis. They both become involved in helping Jewish refugees escape from their oppressors. The story alternates between the two points of view until finally the lives of the two women intersect. Relatively clean, except for the war-time violence.

The Keeper of Hidden Books
by Madeline Martin
A powerful story set in WWI Warsaw, Poland.  Zofia and her best friend Janina begin their resistance to Hitler's oppression by forming a book club dedicated to reading all the books that Hitler has banned.  As Nazi oppression in Warsaw increases, they also increase their resistance activities, including hiding and distributing books that the Germans have deemed illegal and subversive.  A fascinating novel, based on true events.  It's difficult to read in places because of the war-time violence and the knowledge that there is no way for all the characters to have a happy ending (because there was no happy ending for Warsaw in WWI).  But there is hope and redemption and the joy of finding meaningful connections through literature.  There's a great article/interview with the author here.  For more historical fiction about the Warsaw ghetto uprising and the Warsaw uprising, I recommend Jennifer A. Nielsen's two books: Resistance and Uprising.

Husband Auditions
by Angle Ruth Strong
From the library description: Meri Newberg is the last of her friends to remain single, so she jokingly agrees to try a ridiculous list of ways to find a spouse that was published in a 1950s magazine article. Confirmed bachelor Kai Kamaka suggests he film her attempts for a YouTube show so he can make a name for himself as a cameraman, but the more time he spends with her, the less he likes being alone. The only problem is that he's not the kind of husband material she's advertising for on billboards or trying to lasso on street corners.

This was laugh-out-loud funny in many places but also very poignant. (Twenty-one years ago, I was the 31-year-old left still single when all my friends had married. I didn't go out and try to catch a husband, but I did have to learn to be content with where God had placed me and choose to make the most of my singleness instead of moping around and feeling sorry for myself.) There is great dialog and character growth. And important lessons to learn, such as 
1) marriage is more than just getting to the altar 
2) don't make marriage an idol -- we can be happy, content, and fulfilled in serving God in whatever circumstances God puts us in 
3) bad love is not better than no love (i.e. don't compromise your morals just because you're lonely)
4) don't let disappointments, rejection, and hurts make you fear reaching out and trying again.

There are some memorable quotes, such as "A gentleman always chooses what he wants most over what he wants in the moment." (That applies to ladies as well, by the way.)  And "I shouldn't have to change for the right man.  I should only have to become more me."  And "God's not a genie in a lamp.  Talking to Him is more about trust.  Let Him remind you how much you are already loved.  He'll calm your fears with the truth that He has good things planned for your future.  The more time you spend with Him, the more your desires will come in line with His desires." And "Nobody can avoid pain in life. My job as your mom is to point you to your Heavenly Father who can heal your pain. His love is the only kind that never fails."

Biography/History

God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life
by Paul Kengor
I thoroughly enjoyed this in-depth look at Ronald Reagan's spiritual life and the beliefs that shaped his thinking, his life, and his politics. The audiobook was excellently narrated by Bob Souer.  I highly recommend this book!

Middle Grade Novels

Shell Shocked: An Ocean Mystery
by Kathleen Welton

I received this middle-grade novel as a giveaway from LibraryThing.com in exchange for a review.

The back cover describes the book in this way: "In the quaint coastal town of Cataluna Island, a group of friends stumble upon a sea turtle with bizarre markings -- a discovery that spirals into a daring environmental mystery.  Led by the spirited Alex, a teenager determined to deviate from her family's fishing legacy, the team dives deep into the island's ecological secrets.  From analyzing mysterious bioluminescent patterns to decoding messages left on turtle shells, Alex and her allies race against time to protect their community and the endangered turtles that inhabit it.  With each clue, they inch closer to unveiling a threatening environmental crisis.  Can they navigate the treacherous waters of greed and ignorance in time to save their beloved island?'

Sounded intriguing, but the book fell woefully short of delivering on the promises described on the cover.  The "bizarre markings" are mentioned only as "strange red markings."  The "bioluminescence" is not mentioned till later, and its significance is not explained.  There are no coded messages on the turtle shells.  There's no explanation as to why injured turtles or poached turtle nests are a threat to the community or why it's suddenly "not just about turtles anymore, but about saving our homes and our island."  There's no explanation of the motives of the poachers.  At the beginning of the book, Alex's parents are described as running tour boat cruises; later they are said to be in the fishing industry. Her father's boat is involved in trespassing into protected waters and Alex intends to confront her family about their involvement, but they are not home when she goes to speak to them.  No confrontation is ever described, yet at the end of the book, suddenly they are there supporting, having been "won over."

I wanted to like the book, but it was disjointed and hard to follow. While the author did have some good descriptive phrases and sentences, the overall disjointedness made the story hard to follow.  This book has a clear environmental agenda to push ("save the turtles at any cost"), but it is overly dramatic about it and the overuse of many phrases weakens its message.  Just about every page uses some form of "weight," "heavy," or "tension."  Also, the phrases "It's not just about the turtles anymore" and "We have to act fast" and "we need to rally the community" are overused.

Romance: none

Language: two uses of "God" in an exclamatory way, several "damns."

Violence: none

As I said, the cover blurb was intriguing and I wanted to like the book, but the disjointed storyline, poor writing, and overuse of words and phrases made me want to quit reading it after the second or third chapter.  I forced myself to finish it because I wanted to give it fair review, but it was a slog.  Fortunately, it was only just over 100 pages.

Marked
by Chantol Aspinall

Princess Avery has been promised in marriage to the King of Trenton -- a man she's never met -- for the benefits that both nations will receive from their alliance.  She has a birthmark on her face that her mother has told her is a curse, so she tries to hide it.  On the way to the wedding, Avery is kidnapped and discovers that not everyone and everything is what they seem to be. She has to sort out truth from the lies.

The length of this book (~80 pages) made me think it was aimed at the elementary/middle grade audience.  But the content was more along the lines of a young adult romance book.  I think it has potential as a young adult book, but it would need to have the characters, back-story, and plot more fully developed.

Content considerations: several uses of "hell" and "dammit," graphic violence ("blood splattered all over").

I received this middle-grade novel as a giveaway from LibraryThing.com in exchange for a review. I believe this is a self-published book.  It was relatively free of editing errors and was easier to read than the one I reviewed above.  I think it had a premise and storyline that was worth developing into a longer, full-length story.

Children's Books

The Puffin Keeper
by Michael Morpurgo
I was attracted to this book because I've read some other books by the same author. This is a delightfully illustrated story of a lighthouse keeper who rescued a young boy and his mother from a shipwreck.  The boy later returned to the lighthouse and befriended the keeper. Together they rescued an injured puffin, who later brought his friends back to the island and rebuilt the puffin population.  Suitable for middle-grade to read alone or for younger children as a read-aloud.

The Story of Bodri
by Hedi Fried
This picture book describes the life of a young Jewish girl who is forced to leave her beloved dog behind when she is taken to a concentration camp during WWII.  Happy ending: she survives and is reunited with her dog after the war.

Mel Fell
by Corey Tabor
A delightful picture book about a fledgling kingfisher who falls out of the nest, catches a fish, and returns to his siblings and mother in the nest. Highly recommend.

Watercress
by Andrea Wang
A thought-provoking picture book about a Chinese girl in America who is embarrassed by her parents' behavior until she learns what they went through before they emigrated to America.

Newbery Award Books

A Visit to William Blake's Inn
by Nancy Willard
A collection of poems and pictures describing guests who come to an inn named after the English poet William Blake.  I did not think these poems were anything special, but then I am not appreciative or understanding of much poetry in general.  I only skimmed the first few poems before deciding I had better things to do with my time.
1982 Newbery winner
Lincoln:  A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
There are lots of pictures, but there is also lots of text. A decent biography of Abraham Lincoln for upper elementary (if they're skilled readers and history buff) or teens.
1988 Newbery winner

Read-Aloud

Heidi
by Johanna Spyri
The wonderful classic story of a little Swiss girl who lives on a mountain with her grandfather.  Lots of great biblical truths and lessons.  We listened to the audiobook -- partly from the library and partly from Librivox.org.


Thursday, February 27, 2025

February 2025 Books

 Personal Reading

Queen's Thief Series
Book 1: The Thief
Book 2: The Queen of Attolia
Book 3: The King of Attolia
Book 4: A Conspiracy of Kings
Book 5: Thick as Thieves
Book 6: Return of the Thief
by Megan Whalen Turner
A gripping young adult series full of political intrigue, mystery, plot twists, memorable characters, dry humor, and some laugh-out-loud moments.  Set in a fictional world with Greek sounding names and its own mythology and pantheon of gods, this series is similar to (but pre-dates) the False Prince series by Jennifer Neilsen.  Each book is told from a different character's perspective.  It's every bit as intricate and complicated as The False Prince, but a bit darker and more violent, with more involvement of "the gods" and more actual cursing (damn, hell, bastard, and the like) and mild innuendo (non-explicit references to lovers, marital infidelity, and what might or might not have happened on a wedding night).  There is some sweet, understated romance, not all steamy.  I had to read the first three books at least twice and used the search feature on the ebooks to piece together the pieces of the puzzle for a better understanding.  There were some plot twists that I was able to predict, but some caught me by surprise.  After reading all the books, I went back and listened to the audiobooks.  I liked the ones narrated by Jeff Woodman best, but it appears that he hasn't narrated the later books, so I had to settle for Steve West as narrator for those.
Moira's Pen
by Megan Whalen Turner
A collection of short stories and background information set in and around the world of The Queen's Thief series. Very enjoyable.

Biography/History

The Spy and the Traitor
by Ben Mcintyre

A fascinating true story about a Russian KGB man, Oleg Gordievsky, who worked as a spy for the British government until he was betrayed by the CIA's Aldrich Ames in 1985.  The account of his escape from Moscow was on-the-edge-of-your-seat storytelling.  Content considerations: there are some details about Gordievsky's and Ames' adultery.

D. L. Moody
by Kevin Belmonte
A fairly short biography of the famous American preacher D. L. Moody (from the mid-1800s).  A good introduction to his life and work.  Does not delve deeply into his doctrinal beliefs. Short chapters make it easy to read.  Lots of quotes from friends, letters, and other biographers.

The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne
by Catherine Reef
A fairly easy to read biography of these famous sisters who wrote several novels that are now considered classics.  They had to write under masculine pen names because it wasn't considered proper for women to be authors in their time (Victorian era).  If you've read their works, it is easy to see the influence of their lives and experiences on their novels.

Newbery Award Books

Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
A homeless white orphan makes friends on both sides of town (black and white) and helps them begin to see that people are people -- some kind, some mean -- no matter what the color of their skin.  The audiobook was well-read, with the appropriate accents and dialects.  The message of the book was good, though there was some crudeness of language.
1991 Newbery Winner.
Jacob have I Loved
by Katherine Paterson
A story of twin girls and their sibling rivalry, told from the perspective of the one who seems to not be loved as much by her parents.  I got about halfway through before I was really sick of the spiteful, judgmental grandmother who used Bible verses out of context and her "religion" to verbally abuse her granddaughter.  I was also turned off by the girl seeming to "fall in love with" and be aroused by being close to her 70-year-old male neighbor. Abandoned and don't recommend.  The more I read of Newbery winners, the less I trust them as reliable recommendations of good books for kids.
1981 Newbery Winner.

Read-Aloud

Understood Betsy
by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Elizabeth Anne is an orphan raised by her unmarried, overprotective aunt and grandmother.  When the grandmother becomes ill, Elizabeth Anne (Betsy) is sent to live for a while with the dreaded Putney relatives on their farm.  They are unexpectedly kind and do not coddle her as her other aunt did.  She learns to do many things she never imagined and to think for herself.  A delightful book.  Audiobook was excellently narrated.

Friday, January 31, 2025

January 2025 Books

 Personal Reading

George Knightley, Esquire Book 1: Charity Envieth Not
George Knightley, Esquire Book 2: Lend Me Leave
by Barbara Cornthwaite
 A delightful retelling of Jane Austen's Emma from Mr. George Knightley's perspective.  It was faithful to Knightley's character as portrayed by Austen.  Very well done and clean. Recommended for fans of Emma.

The London House
by Katherine Reay
A combination of modern romance and historical fiction.  Spurred on by a former college friend's about-to-be published article about her aunt's supposed defection from Britain to run off with a Nazi lover, Caroline sets off from Boston to London to uncover the truth about her aunt and namesake and save her family's reputation.  Along the way, she finds healing in her own relationships with her parents and her friend.  A fascinating read, though a bit "steamier" than previous books by this author that I've read.

A Shadow in Moscow
by Katherine Reay
From the back book cover: In the thick of the Cold War, a betrayal at the highest level risks the lives of two courageous female spies: MI6’s best Soviet agent and the CIA’s newest Moscow recruit.

Vienna, 1954

After losing everyone she loves in the final days of World War II, Ingrid Bauer agrees to a hasty marriage with a gentle Soviet embassy worker and follows him home to Moscow. But nothing within the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime is what it seems, including her new husband, whom Ingrid suspects works for the KGB. Inspired by her daughter’s birth, Ingrid risks everything and reaches out in hope to the one country she understands and trusts—Britain, the country of her mother’s birth. She begins passing intelligence to MI6, navigating a world of secrets and lies, light and shadow.

Moscow, 1980

A student in the Foreign Studies Initiative, Anya Kadinova finishes her degree at Georgetown University and boards a flight home to Moscow, leaving behind the man she loves and a country she’s grown to respect. Though raised by dedicated and loyal Soviet parents, Anya soon questions an increasingly oppressive and paranoid regime at the height of the Cold War. Then the KGB murders her best friend and Anya chooses her side. Working in a military research lab, she relays Soviet plans and schematics to the CIA in an effort to end the 1980s arms race.

The past catches up to the present when an unprecedented act of treachery threatens all agents operating within Eastern Europe, and both Ingrid and Anya find themselves in a race for their lives against time and the KGB.

This was a fascinating, page-turning, tear-jerking Cold War spy novel. The author's list of books for further reading about true stories that inspired elements of this novel just might derail my carefully planned to-read-list for the year.  This is a good one to pair with The Berlin Letters by the same author and The Divine Plan by Paul Kengor.

A Portrait of Emily Price
by Katherine Reay

A typical novel by Katherine Reay in her modern romance genre: single protagonist in her late 20s struggling with work and relationships meets cute, sensitive guy who helps her work through her issues as she helps his family work through theirs, using lessons from literature to help them.

Classics
Martin Chuzzlewit
by Charles Dickens
Old Martin Chuzzlewit is rich, crotchety, and justly paranoid that all his relations are after his money.  He is estranged from his grandson and namesake, young Martin Chuzzlewit.  His only ally is an orphan girl he has taken under his protection to serve him, with the stipulation that she only benefits as long as he is alive. A long, winding tale of all the various characters who touch these two characters' lives.  Contains an unflattering (but amusing to me) portrait of America.  Dickens later visited America a second time (after the civil war and abolition of slavery), revised his opinion, and published an apology of sorts.  When it was published, this book was not as popular as his previous ones. This led to financial difficulties, which led him to write A Christmas Carol to try to recoup some of the monetary losses. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, narrated by Frederick Davidson.

Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
Plain Jane grows up unwanted and mistreated by her aunt and cousins, is shipped off to a school for girls run by a miserly church man, and becomes a governess for a French girl who is the ward of mysterious Mr. Rochester.  She falls in love with Mr. Rochester, but the wedding is called off at the last minute because of a dreadful secret he's been hiding. That's not the end of the story, but to tell more would be a spoiler.  I really enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Alison Larkin (she also did all of the Austen novels).

Wuthering Heights 
by Emily Bronte
The term "toxic love" is a popular term these days. I don't know when it was coined, but this novel is the perfect illustration of it. A boy of unknown origins (Heathcliff) is brought to the home of a well-to-do family in England and is belittled by most of them, except for the father and the daughter (Catherine).  After the father dies, the boy is treated worse than ever.  Heathcliff and Catherine are friends, but she rejects him and marries another.  Heathcliff disappears for a while but returns with a plan to exact revenge on both families (Catherine's and her husband's).  The long-time housekeeper narrates the story to a visitor.  There is one character that speaks in such a heavy dialect, it's almost impossible to decipher (unless you have an annotated version that translates it).  There are no protagonists in the story.  All the main characters are despicable and impossible to sympathize with.  I'm not sure what the appeal of this story is or why it is a "classic."

North and South
by Elizabeth Gaskell
From the library description: The novel follows the story of Margaret Hale in her move from the tranquil setting in rural southern England to the raw and turbulent northern town of Milton. Margaret takes an instant dislike to her new home and its people, including the handsome and charismatic cotton mill owner John Thornton whom she believes epitomizes everything unpleasant about the North. As events throw Margaret and Thornton together, the two spirited characters have to overcome their repressed physical attraction for one another and conquer prejudices of class and circumstance.

This book reads like a Dickens novel (the author was a contemporary of Dickens and the novel was published in one of Dickens' magazines) in that it has long passages dealing with the social issues of the day, but the characters are not as interesting and colorful as Dickens' characters, and it lacks the ironic and sarcastic wit of Dickens.  Fortunately, it wasn't as long as Dickens' novels.  I almost quit reading it several times.  I'm glad I pushed myself to finish it, but I likely won't ever read it again.



Biography/History
God's Smuggler
by Brother Andrew
The memoirs of a Dutch man who smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950s and 1960s. Very powerful.  Content considerations: somewhat graphic descriptions of his life in the military prior to conversion to Christianity; one co-worker in a factory makes suggestive comments.

The Divine Plan
by Paul Kengor and Robert Orlando
After reading a couple of novels set during the Cold War, I was inspired to learn more about some of the key historical figures of the latter part of that time.  This book discussed the relationship between Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, their faith in God, and their belief that God had a divine purpose for sparing both of them from assassination attempts.  Fascinating to me, especially since I grew up during this time.  As a kid, I certainly didn't understand the significance of many world events that I heard about on the news.  So it was interesting to read more about it.

The Billion Dollar Spy
by David E. Hoffman
The subtitle is "A True Story of Cold-War Espionage and Betrayal."  This was a fascinating account of the spy work done in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, focusing largely on Adolf Tolkachev, a Russian engineer who passed thousands of secret military documents to the CIA before he was caught and executed.  While it delves deeply in Toklachev's work, it also gives much background about the developments of spycraft during this era and the people who worked with Tolkachev.  A good companion to the novel A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Rheay.  The audiobook was excellently narrated.

Newbery Award Books

Up a Road Slowly
by Irene Hunt
This is called a "coming of age" story, as the main character grows up from up distraught seven-year-old to a seventeen-year-old high school graduate.  After her mother's death, Julie and her brother are sent to live with her spinster aunt in the country. I couldn't figure out why the father was so uninvolved with his daughter or why the boy was sent to some boarding school after a year and rarely heard from again.  Though Julie struggles against her aunt's "inflexibility," she does learn from her and grows and matures.  As a child, her brother and a friend forcefully hold her down while another boy kisses her.  She punches the boy in the eye, but she is the one who gets in trouble for hitting rather than the boys getting in trouble.  One disturbing comment in the book was something along the lines of "a woman is never complete until she has loved a man."  Later, Julie thinks she is in love with a handsome boy in high school (even though he's only using her to do his schoolwork) because she is lonely and longing for someone to love her.  Her family doesn't approve, steps in to prevent him using her for other purposes, and finally offers some good advice. I don't recommend it.
Genre: Realistic Fiction.  1967 Newbery Medal winner.

A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L'engle
Meg Murry, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin travel through time and space to find and rescue Meg's father who has been captured by an evil force, known as IT, which seeks to bring everyone into a life of conformity and uniformness. Kind of a science-fiction/fantasy blend.  We listened to the audiobook and my kids though it was kind of weird and aren't interested in reading anymore of the series.  I disliked the blending of fantasy worlds with out-of-context Bible quotes; the author also equated Jesus with other "good men" like Buddha.
Genre: Fantasy.  1963 Newbery Medal winner.


Middle-grade Fiction

Between Flowers and Bones
by Carolyn Leiloglou
This is the second book in The Restorationists series. See my review of the first book, Beneath the Swirling Sky. Cousins Vincent and Georgia are traveling through paintings again fighting the "distortionists" who steal and distort famous paintings.  Georgia struggles with her attitude toward her cousin, as he seems to get more attention and praise from her parents and grandfather than she does.  In the end, they learn to work together to accomplish their mission.  This episode concludes nicely, but the story isn't finished yet.  There's at least one more book planned in the series.


Read-Aloud

Juan Seguin: A Hero of Texas
by Rita Kerr
A brief introduction to Juan Seguin, who was an important figure in Texas history and the fight for independence.