CAN ONE LITTLE KISS FROM A WORLD FAMOUS HERO OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CHANGE EVERYTHING? Now available in print, digital, and audio editions.
*****************************************************************
1st Place Winner (Young Adults) Red City Review Book Awards; 1st Place Winner (Historical Fiction) Purple Dragonfly Book Awards; Gold Medalist (Middle School/Historical Fiction) Literary Classics Award; Bronze Medalist (Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction) eLit Awards; Finalist, (Historical Fiction) Red City Book Awards; Quarter Finalist (Middle Grade) Booklife Prize. Also named on the Grateful American Kids website as one of the best history book for kids to read.
*****************************************************************
Clever young Clara Hargraves has a couple of big problems: a new stepmother, formerly her old maid schoolteacher aunt, who keeps trying to make Clara behave like a lady; and red hair, which means she is constantly teased, especially by an older boy, Dickon, and her beautiful cousin, Hetty. During the last week of June, 1825, Clara's small New Hampshire town is buzzing about the upcoming visit to the state by the Revolutionary War hero, General Lafayette. Could an unexpected playful kiss from a charming, world-famous Frenchman change Clara's life forever?
Dorothea Jensen is proud to be one of a very few people who has boarded a pirate ship and attacked a Viking vessel manned by real Vikings wearing horns and furs. She was born in Boston, but grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois, site of the Viking adventure. She then earned a BA in English from Carleton College and an MA in Secondary Education from the University of New Mexico. She has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South America, taught middle and high school English, tutored refugees in ESL, written grant proposals for various arts organizations, written a play performed in Noh style, and raised three children. Her first historical novel for young readers, THE RIDDLE OF PENNCROFT FARM, has been used in classrooms for many years as an enrichment resource for kids studying the American Revolution. Her next novel, A BUSS FROM LAFAYETTE, is set in 1825 in the small town in New Hampshire where she has lived since 1991. Dorothea also writes modern Christmas stories in verse. Modeled on the 19th century classic poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas", these award-winning Santa's Izzy Elves story poems feature decidedly 21st century elves savvy in modern technology.
I was interested to learn that shampoo as we know it is quite a recent invention. Up until the 1920s, (nearly a century after A Buss From Lafayette takes place) bar soap was still used for washing the hair. Here's what was recommended in 1908:
The New York Times outlines “simple rules” on “How to Shampoo the Hair.” It claims that hair is best shampooed at night, following thorough combing and brushing, and singeing split ends. Castile soap is applied with a stiff brush, rinsed four times. Hair specialists, “Recommend shampooing every month to six weeks if the hair is in fairly good condition.” Hairstory.com
Book Excerpt
A Buss from Lafayette
But her “yesses” are worse still. Yes, I must practice my confounded embroidery stitches every single day. Yes, I must brush my hair one hundred strokes with the pig bristle brush every single night before going to bed. She keepssaying that she knows how hard it is to do so, but since washing it with soap is far too harsh on the hair to do often, this is the only way to keep it clean and soft. I shall not mind doing this with my Simeon’s Lead Comb, but using a brush does nothing but make my arms sore and my hair as bristly as the brush.
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.