I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Just Read. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
Source: Just Read
Welcome to the circulating blog tour and giveaway for The Searchers series of middle grade historical fiction by Bertha Schwartz, hosted by JustRead tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Kelly’s Search for Family (Searchers #2)
Author: Bertha Schwartz
Publisher: Ambassador International
Release Date: December 1, 2018
Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction
It’s 1880 and Kelly lives alone with her Papa, a lighthouse-keeper in Massachusetts. She longs to know more about her Mama, and Papa has finally promised to tell her the truth on her fourteenth birthday. Before Kelly can learn much though, dangerous men the notorious Blackburn Brothers arrive unannounced and take Papa away. Kelly is left alone and responsible for the lighthouse.
Granny, a former slave and family friend, learns of Kelly’s plight and decides to help find the answers to her questions. Mysterious letters, snow storms, and violence threaten Kelly’s safe haven as new friends help unearth old secrets in Kelly’s lighthouse home. How can she bring her papa back? Who is her true family?
PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Ambassador
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bertha Schwartz is a Swiss Amish transplant to the beautiful farmland of Nappanee, Indiana. She loves spending time with family and friends, including fifty-two nieces and nephews. Her hobbies include scrapbooking, sewing, and reading. Raised near the lovely Swiss city of Berne, Indiana, Swiss is her mother-language. Languages and different dialects are a special interest of hers.
Review
This is my second dip into the Searchers series. I reviewed ‘Daisy’s Search for Freedom‘ back in December. I appreciate this series written for middle grade readers that takes on the tough topics of history and presents them in an appropriate and manageable way while also infusing faith into the characters. There are so many little takeaways that not only help our children better understand history but also to strengthen their faith. I mean, let’s face it, Munch was reading at a middle grade level when he was like 6. Finding appropriate reading material that also kept him engaged was hard! It is only getting harder as he gets older, I mean he’s 10 now and like reading like college level or something. OK not really but that’s what it feels like sometimes. So, finding appropriate reading material is important to me and this fits the bill.
Not that it’s all sunshine and roses and I find the book perfect. I had a couple of little hiccups. Now, before you jump and yell at me please remember that I am very aware that this was a very different time. Life really was simpler, in some aspects but much the same in others. When the ‘bad guys’ come and Papa leaves Kelly locked in and tells her if he’s not back to go for help I was super like ‘wait what?!?!’. I’m going to leave my only child home alone on an isolate island while I take off who knows where with evil men and let’s just hope they forget she exists. Really? How do you expect this child to go for help exactly? Secondly, Granny and her absolute belief that Homer was absolutely a safe good person. I won’t spoiler here but I feel like it was a little bit abrupt and it concerned me the ideas that our children could take away from that. Finally, I hiccuped over the timeline. The time brushes together and it’s hard to distinguish if it was days, weeks, or months. It reads as though it was days to maybe a week but other things happen that allude to a much longer time period. The floaty feel to the timeline left me hiccuping out of control.
The rest though I loved. I loved that Kelly turned to prayer every time she worried and fretted or was scared or overwhelmed. Oh how even adults needs to develop this outlet more. To be more open to turning to the Heavenly Father for help in these times instead of our penchant to just power through and sometimes flap around drowning under our own mite. The other thing, and perhaps I’m just weird in noticing this, is Granny. I never pieced together that Granny was black through the entire story. She was Granny. If her heritage was ever indicated I never picked up on it, she was Granny right? It wasn’t until. . . well spoiler but let’s just say that another character who was identified by heritage in correlation to her when I realized she was actually a former slave and not just actually Granny or even family friend. How refreshing to see that in a book for our children, but also to see that the distinction wasn’t defined during such a tremulous time in history as after the Civil War. All in all this is a great book that I think is perfect for a young reader to truly grasp a bit of history and a whole lot of faith.
TOUR GIVEAWAY
One (1) winner will receive:
- a set of all 3 books in The Searchers series (US only)
Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight January 9, 2019 and lasts through 11:59pm February 4, 2019. Void where prohibited by law. Winners will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops – and remember to visit the tour each week for more posts.
This book of the Searchers series seems particularly interesting. I assume Kelly’s Search for Family teaches what it took to manage a lighthouse. Historical fiction makes historical relatable. It’s much easier for anyone to remember information from a book that they feel a connection to instead of just facts on paper.