CAN ONE LITTLE KISS FROM A WORLD FAMOUS HERO OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CHANGE EVERYTHING? Now available in print, digital, and audio editions.
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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.
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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.
According to the New England Historical Society, in early New England the village church bell had a number of jobs to do.“The gabriel bell woke the people of the parish, the sermon bell announced it was time for the church services; the pardon bell rang before and after the sermon during prayers for the pardoning of sins; the pudding bell, which undoubtedly was the most popular, told the cook to prepare dinner while the church-goers headed for home; the passing bell tolled three times at a man’s death with a ring for each year of his age." In another place, i learned that the English custom was to ring 3 x 3 (9) for a man, 3 x 2 (6) for a woman, and 3 times for a child. Each time, the bell would then ring once for each year of age. Meanwhile, when it is very quiet I can hear the Revere bell in our village church steeple chime the hour.
Book Excerpt
A Buss from Lafayette
As we approached the village, we heard the sonorous tones of the bell in the tower of the First Church. I was proud that my own church had a bell made by the famous silversmith, Paul Revere, but it always jarred me a little to hear it ring. The sound of it was a disturbing reminder of my mother’s funeral, only a little over a year ago. On that sad day, the Revere bell had rung out the traditional six chimes to proclaim that a woman of the town had died. A mournful stream of tones followed, one for each year of Mother’s all too short life.
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