A Buss from Lafayette

Teens

synopsis

Synopsis

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?

bio

Author Biography

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.

website

Author Insight

SMOCKS

In England, 19th century workmen (drovers, drivers, farmers etc.) protected clothing by wearing smocks. In one of the Old Sturbridge publications, I found a smock pictured, so apparently these protective "smock-frocks" were also used in New England at that time. (OSV is a living history museum in Massachusetts set in the 1830s.) Since many people had only one "everyday" outfit to work in and a Sunday outfit for going to church, it made sense to wear smocks to keep the workday clothes as clean as possible. My kids remember wearing old shirts of their father backwards to protect their clothes in nursery school and/or Kindergarten when painting pictures. (One of my sons even named his film production company Smock Media, observing that "Smock Protects the Artist." I have posted pictures of smocks on my website and on Pinterest.

Book Excerpt

A Buss from Lafayette

I turned around and saw him sweep his wide-brimmed straw hat off his dark hair and give me a mock bow from atop the wagon seat. He jumped down from the wagon and walked over to me.

I looked up at him. Way, way up. Dickon Weeks, although only a couple of years older than me, was so tall that it hurt my neck to look so far up. Had he grown even taller since I saw him last? Under his well-patched smock, his cotton trousers barely reached his ankles, which certainly hinted that he had. He is starting to appear as “tall and gangly” as Lafayette, I thought. Although he certainly lacks the Frenchman’s reputed charm.

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Dorothea Graham Jensen

A Buss from Lafayette

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

SMOCKS

Book Excerpt

A Buss from Lafayette

Comment on this Bubble