Friday, October 22, 2010

Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires BLOG TOUR

Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires - Mom’s Choice Awards® Silver Recipient

The Civil War Draft Meets Immigrant Coal Miners

Fourteen-year-old Katie McCafferty risks job, family, and eventually her very life to rescue a lifelong friend. Disguised as a draft resister, Katie infiltrates a secret Irish organization to prevent bloodshed. Tragedies challenge her strength and ingenuity, and she faces a crisis of conscience. Can Katie balance her sense of justice with the law?

Call Me Kate is suitable for readers from eleven to adult. The story is dramatic and adventuresome, yet expressive of daily life in the patches of the hard coal region during the Civil War era. This novel will appeal to readers of the Dear America series, as well as more mature readers who will enjoy the story’s rich context and drama.

"The writing style employed in the book entertains, educates and communicates to the reader a general understanding of the hardships of life in the anthracite coal fields of northeast Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century and Irish-American history." - Bill Strassner, Museum Educator, Eckley Miners’ Village

"Call Me Kate absorbs the reader into a tightly woven narrative of tumultuous times in the anthracite region. Through Kate, the reader becomes a participant in that story." - Ruth Cummings, Museum Educator, Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum

"The Lackawanna Historical Society is always pleased to see new and creative ways to promote an interest in our local history. A young adult historical fiction like Call Me Kate is a wonderful example of this! We are delighted to know that local authors are using their heritage to develop new publications." - Mary Ann Moran-Savakinus, Executive Director, Lackawanna Historical Society

This review is from: Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires - Mom’s Choice Awards® Silver Recipient (Paperback)
I found Call Me Kate a very interesting book, not only because it is based on the author's ancestors, but it opened my eyes to the upheaval over "Lincoln's War" by the northern states. I had no idea that the North was so adamant towards the war. This was a great way to learn about the Civil War era without reading a dull history book!

The deplorable conditions of the mines in Northeast Pennsylvania, where this story opens, creates a dramatic background to the plight of the people and the lengths they went to stay out of the war.

Young Katie McCafferty is one of three daughters who gets herself involved, initially unintentionally, while off working to help her family financially after her father's injuries. The lengths she went are difficult to comprehend when you remember this is during the Civil War times where I only remember men going off to war.

Katie's ingenuity and intensity, as she worked along the men, was part of the reason things happened as they did, and I found it very interesting. She looked at the situation from a different perspective than the men, which was refreshing.

Definitely a good book to bring history to life.

1 comment:

  1. Phillip - thanks for sharing 'Call Me Kate' with your blog readers. We appreciate your support of the book.

    Best wishes,
    Nicole
    Tribute Books

    ReplyDelete