The Romanov Sisters, The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport.

A well-researched, interesting read.. The author studied Russian at Leeds University and is a specialist in Russian and nineteenth-century women's history.  Her expertise is evident as she uses many family memoirs and first hand materials to tell the stories of these four Grand Duchesses of Russia.

 The four main characters, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria come to life for the reader. The excesses and the deprivations are vividly portrayed.. This book gave me a new look at their mother, Alexandra, England's Queen Victoria's granddaughter. I felt that she was the Mother who was always nearby, but still absent from their lives. Conversely, Nicholas came across as the Father who was often away, but still present in their lives. 

 I highly recommend this book if one is interested in this era and locale.

The book's publication date is June 3, 2014. It can be pre-ordered from several sources.

http://www.amazon.com/Romanov-Sisters-Daughters-Nicholas-Alexandra-ebook/dp/B00H6EOMDO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395589783&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Romanov+Sisters

The Mark of the Dragonfly: A most intriguing middle grades/young adult fantasy.

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson, published by Random House, is not in a genre that I often read...fantasy. My mind doesn't usually grasp the action and the meaning of fantasy stories. This one is different. It is a MG/YA fantasy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I couldn't leave it for very long because I just had to know what happened next. In my opinion, that eagerness to keep reading only happens with a good plotline and characters. Dragonfly has both.

Our protagonist, Piper, is a scrapper. She lives in a town of scrappers. They must hunt and pick, that is, scrap, for their existence. Far away to the South there is a territory governed by a leader who marks those he protects with a tattoo of a dragonfly. Piper has never see the mark of the Dragonfly until the day she comes upon the wreckage of a caravan that seemed to be scrapping during a meteor shower, something that is forbidden. When Piper runs to check on the overturn wreckage, she finds Anna. Small, wounded, and suffering from amnesia,  Anna is unconscious. Piper takes her home and soon sees the mark of the dragonfly for Anna is tattooed with it. Piper knows that the young girl is from the Dragonfly Territories and protected by their king. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that Piper has found Anna?

Piper, living in poverty by our standards and desperate for money decides that this young girl with the tattoo will bring a reward if returned to the Dragonfly Territories safely. The only sure way to get there is on the 401, an old, historic train. Since Piper has no money for two tickets, she and Anna slip aboard the train.
This is where the fantasy takes off. Piper's life, Anna's life, and those aboard the train they come to know, turns dangerous on the trip South. A green-eye boy, or is he a monster? Who or What is he? Other creatures of fantasy, and evil creatures of men make for a journey Piper and Anna will not forget.

Finally, is Piper really who she thought she was? Is she a 'monster', a fantastical creature, a freak, or an ordinary girl who has no special powers?

Publication day is March 25, 2014.  Ages 10 and up, reading level 5th grade and up. Pick up a copy and meet Piper, Anna, and a host of other characters on a journey you won't forget.

After March 25: Available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon and other bookstores or online.

Look who's getting old: Harriet the Spy: The children’s book heroine who observes friends, classmates, and neighbors – and holds nothing back in her notebook commentary – first came on the scene in 1964, when Harper & Row published Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy. Fifty this year!! Unfortunately, the author Louise Fitzhugh died in her 40's in 1974, but Harriet lives on.

A golden book cover...

Book covers draw me in. This certainly has me running to grab it.

Read an interview with author Marci Jefferson on Heather Webb's blog at 

http://www.heatherwebbauthor.com/2014/02/11/guest-author-marci-jefferson-girl-on-the-golden-coin/

Climb to Conquet by Peter Shelton...A wonderful read.

While researching U.S. Army units in World War II for a novel I am revising, I came upon a note that said the 10th Mountain Division arrived in Italy on a certain day. Bingo, I thought, if I can find enough information, this should be the unit for my protagonist, a young man from the mountains of Colorado. I had outlined him to serve in Italy during the war. This division seemed made for him....if I could find material on it.

I found more material than I could hope to read, but by far, the best history I have found is Climb To Conquer by Peter Shelton. It is well written, well researched, and a delight to read. Published in 2003, the author blurb tells us that Peter Shelton has been a contributing editor and columnist at Ski magazine as well as a correspondent for Outside magazine since 1984. He was described as living in Montrose, Colorado.

His author photo shows him wearing ski goggles, so I took that as a way of telling us he had knowledge of skiing. Knowing the location and history of Montrose, I assumed he would know the Colorado mountain terrain and the site of the 10th Division training camp. I was not disappointed in either assumption. He described the setting in both hot summers and frigid winters so vividly that one could picture them. His knowledge of skiing, and the knowledge of those he relied on is clearly evident.

The 10th Mountain Division won the tag of being an elite group. To an extent this was true. World class skiers, Olympic Champions, college boys from ski teams, and men who had to have three written recommendations from their Ski Patrol leaders, made this a unique gathering.

The group came together at the newly and quickly built Camp Hale, between Leadville and Vail, Colorado. There they trained, not for months, but for over a year. Training and testing newly made ski and mountaineering equipment from firms around the world. At the same time, learning to attack, defend, and move quickly and quietly while carrying 90 lbs on their backs as they cross country and downhill skied. Their 'dress whites' were ski suits, helmets, goggles and even poles and skis themselves, all in white.

Finally, the war called upon them. There was a stalemate in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Special troops with special skills were needed to scale and capture the mountains ridges. Could this elite group really get the job done? Really remove the entrenched Germans from Italy? You bet they could. In great descriptive detail, we move silently along with these men on the various mountains and ridges as they pursue the enemy.

The group was the last U.S. division to enter the war in Europe, but it its few months there it helped free the Italians of the enemy and pushed the Germans beyond Lake Garda in northern Italy in 1945. In doing so, this group suffered the highest number of casualties per combat day. Theirs was not an easy task, but they completed it with glory.

Climb to Conquer tells their story from inception to the end of World War II. It is a little known story of a valiant group of men. Elite? Yes, because of who they were and the vision they saw and brought to life.

Today, the division still exists, serving in all of our recent wars. Watch for them, they are still sacrificing and making the news. Or check them out online. Several sites available. You might start with their home organization. http://www.tenthmountain.org/

Books available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, new and used. Its a great way to learn about this group. Any WWII reader would enjoy this book.

Donna Russo Morin: INSIDE THE WRITERS' STUDY WITH PATRICIA BRACEWELL

Borrowing a post from Donna Russo Morin. I love the book cover of Patricia Bracewell's new book. Covers draw me into the book or turn me away from a book. This one says' read me. I'm your kind of book." So Read it I will Patricia Bracewell.  Thanks Donna, and Patricia.

Donna Russo Morin: INSIDE THE WRITERS' STUDY WITH PATRICIA BRACEWELL: As her debut novel releases in paperback, Patricia Bracewell takes some time out to sit and relax...Inside the Writers' Study!

.

December 28, 1856- A President is born. Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Read about his childhood in Tommy: The Civil War Childhood of a President.

The little boy who became President Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born December 28, 1856. In honor of his birthday, I am repeating my earlier blog about my childhood biography of him. Known to his family as Tommy, I think you will like the little boy that lives through one horrific war only to be called upon to lead us into another.

In Tommy: The Civil War Childhood of a President, readers will get to know Tommy through his family and friends, through his leisure moments, and even through his stubbornness and his caring for others. Each chapter provides insight into the youngster who became 28th president of the United States. The reader will see Tommy learn from his faith and family, and from the history lived. These lessons learned were later evident as President Thomas Woodrow Wilson guided his country through another war, World War I. 

In "Tommy" we get a glimpse of everyday life in a southern town not directly in the line of fire in a bloody civil war. An important strand in the book is found in the many parades, all verified, that took place in Augusta during that time. At the beginning of the war the parades were glorious. By the middle and end of the war the tempo of the parades was changing. The following except describes one memorable parade.

  An excerpt from Tommy: The Civil War Childhood of a President.

     The future President of the United States stood on the edge of the field fascinated by the parade passing in front of him.  He had seen many parades since the war started two years ago, but this one was different.  There were no brass bands playing, no freshly uniformed infantry units stepping high and no prancing cavalry horses.  No one was marching, and no one was cheering.

     This was not a parade of clean, smartly dressed military men.  This was a parade of ragged men in tattered uniforms.  Their sabers and sashes were replaced by blood and bandages. And dirt. 

     There was no one to watch this parade by the railroad track in Augusta, Georgia, but seven-year-old Tommy and his young friends.  Playing in the fields near the tracks, they had heard the solemn ringing of the troop-train's bell and watched as it shuddered to stop beside the field.  Curious, the boys ran to the train and watched as slowly it emptied its cargo of Civil War wounded.
 

          A few of the injured limped unaided, but many more shuffled, supported on one or both sides by others who were themselves wounded.  Others hobbled on crutches.  One man, with a foot missing kept his head down and his eyes on the bandage at the end of his leg.  He seemed to be looking at the foot that wasn't there.                               

     After the walking wounded came men on litters.  Their bodies, their heads, their limbs wrapped in bloody, dirty bandages.  Some of the blood was old and caked; some new and oozing. 

    One man alone seemed to see the boys.  His large body was covered with a blood-soaked blanket on which several medals and many flies competed for space.  His head and face were covered with bloody, dirty bandages.

     A foul, wretched smell filled the air through which the litters moved.  It was not a smell like the barnyard or the cow pen.  It was not even a smell like hogs being slaughtered.  This smell was worse, much worse.  As it grew stronger, Tommy and his friends covered their mouths and noses as to protect themselves from this smell which instinctively they knew to be the smell of death.

     Finally, from the car nearest the engine came a different sight.  Men under guard.  Men whose arms and legs were bound together, making it hard for them to walk.  So they too shuffled.  And they too were covered with dirt and blood and bandages.

     One of Tommy's friends  finally broke their silence.  "Come on," he said.  "Let's get back to our game."

     Everyone turned to go but Tommy.  Tommy stood still, only his head moving to follow the hundreds of wounded and dying soldiers who were passing by.

     Finally, he turned and headed, not toward his friends, but back to his home and the security of his family. He could play no more that day.  He wasn't sure he could ever play that game again.

      The boys had been playing war. 

Tommy: The Civil War Childhood of a President
A Childhood Biography of President Thomas Woodrow Wilson
By Julia Faye Dockery Smith

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1478228881