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.
Here's one instance of what endeared Lafayette to the men under his command during the Revolution. He took this humane approach to keep his men from deserting. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a fellow commander who was fighting alongside Lafayette in the same sweltering heat, simply chose to execute the leading deserters. And he made the comrades of those leaders form the firing squad which killed them. Apart from this episode, I have always liked Wayne, who stayed loyal and dedicat3ed to the American cause, even when he was passed over for promotion. which was one of the factors in Benedict Arnold's treachery. (I also lived in a town in Pennsylvania named for Wayne, so maybe I'm a little prejudiced in this favor.)
Book Excerpt
A Buss from Lafayette
Father said that Lafayette had stayed on in the South with his men. “Then, when the ferocious summer heat in Virginia made many of the New Englanders ready to desert—I am most sorry to say—Lafayette talked them into staying by appealing to their pride, rather than by shooting those who led the revolt, as some other American commanders did. He told them he knew that their task was going to be difficult and dangerous, but that he himself was willing to stay and face whatever came. And they stayed with him. Now, that is no glory seeker; that is merely a young man of most admirable character.”
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