Michaela MacColl

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Booklist thinks Eliza is Savvy!

I am a sucker for the word “savvy” — and I was before Pirates of the Carribbean!  Booklist just gave Freedom’s Price a lovely review.  Here it is:

It’s 1849 and Eliza and her family live in a St. Louis jail while the court ponders their status as free or slave. Her father is Dred Scott, whose bid for freedom will culminate in the famous Supreme Court decision years later. Eliza fumes, secretly learns to read, and longs for a future in a more just world. MacColl and Nichols paint a vivid picture of slavery’s brutal yoke. Nowhere is this more sharply etched than in the tension between daughter and parents as Eliza tries to live in the world and spread her wings. Mother Harriet knows her teen daughter, even with free status, could be kidnapped by unscrupulous slave traders. As if the slavery crisis were not burdensome enough, a cholera outbreak and then a large fire steeps the city and its people in more misery. Expect a savvy, energetic fighter in Eliza, and suspenseful plotting in this fine piece of historical fiction from the Hidden Histories series.— Anne O’Malley

Do you know me?

I belong to a writers’ group on Facebook and one day the topic was “Google Alerts.” I had noticed that my alerts seemed to have gotten less and less effective. Someone mentioned Mention.com.  I tried it out for free and found all sorts of things I’d missed about myself. This lovely site is called Women You Should know and it thinks everyone should get to know me!

Honorary Mention for the Grateful American Book Prize for The Revelation of Louisa May

I was so pleased that Louisa May was selected for the Grateful American Book Prize. This is an interesting award to reward excellence in children’s fiction – and for getting kids intrigued by history. Check out the link for the press releases.

 

Source: Grateful American Book Prize will be awarded to author Kathy Cannon Wiechman for “Like a River: A Civil War Novel” | The Grateful American | David Bruce Smith Publications

School Library Journal Likes Louisa!

School Library Journal/February 2015

“A page-turner that satisfies.”—School Library Journal

Readers are immediately drawn into Louisa’s 19th-century world as her mother departs for work in the city and Louisa discovers a runaway slave, named George, hiding outside the Alcott home. The teen capably manages the various conflicts in the novel: money struggles, her relationship with her father, George’s safety, and romantic tensions between her and her distant cousin, Fred. Unsavory characters like Fitch, who is a slave catcher, and a disreputable woman named Miss Whittington, bring additional tension to this plot-driven novel. As she did with Always Emily (Chronicle, 2014), MacColl creates a strong sense of place, both in time and with her presentation of the physical environment. Her fluid incorporation of the transcendentalists and their movement aligns well with her attention to the novel’s setting. Although conflict and intrigue ensue, with protecting George and solving a murder, Louisa’s character unfortunately remains static. VERDICT Though light on character development, MacColl has created a page-turner that satisfies.