In My Mailbox - 10/9/10

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Bought:

Dear Canada: To Stand on My Own by Barbara Haworth-Attard

In the summer of 1937, life on the Prairies is not easy. The Great Depression has brought great hardship, and young Noreen's family must scrimp to make ends meet. In a horrible twist of fate, Noreen, like hundreds of other young Canadians, contracts polio and is placed in an isolation ward, unable to move her legs. After a few weeks she gains partial recovery, but her family makes the painful decision to send her to a hospital far away for further treatment. To Stand On My Own is Noreen's diary account of her journey through recovery: her treatment; life in the ward; the other patients, some of them far worse off than her; adjustment to life in a wheelchair and on crutches; and ultimately, the emotional and physical hurdles she must face when she returns home.


My Australian Story: The Phar Lap Mystery by Sophie Masson

Sally's dad is a private detective, and he's just been offered the case of a lifetime - investigating who tried to shoot Phar Lap before the 1930 Melbourne Cup. Helping her dad investigate, Sally begins to feel a sense of mounting dread as Phar Lap goes from victory to victory - and collects some dangerous enemies...


Scout by Nicole Pluss

As the Scout sails from England, Kit Lovell cries for the life she is leaving and the life she could have had. Her father was a sea captain who went down with his ship before she was born. Now her mother is to marry a stranger, a lighthouse keeper in the remote colony of South Australia.
But it soon becomes clear to Kit that this voyage across the world's vast oceans is setting something loose inside her, something she doesn't understand. Her secret encounters with Angel, a mysterious young sailor, seem at one moment completely bewildering and at another crystal clear. And her friendship with the bold and brash young Clarissa is opening her eyes in ways she never thought possible.
Yet Kit's internal turmoil is nothing compared to the power of the sea in all its moods as the Scout's melting pot of passengers and crew sail into an adventure that will change all their lives forever.


For review:

Small Acts of Amazing Courage by Gloria Whelan

It is India, 1918, six months after the end of World War I, and Rosalind awaits the return of her father from the war. Rosalind is kept from boarding school in England at her mother’s insistence. While her father has been at war, Rosalind sees the country slowly change. A man named Ghandi is coming to power, talking about nonviolence and independence from Britain. Rosalind longs to live the life that her heart tells her, not what her parents prescribe for her, but no one seems to listen.
This penetrating story, told with lush and vivid detail, contrasts Rosalind’s privilege and daily experiences in India with the hardship of the people around her. As she comes of age during this volatile period of history, will she find the courage to claim her own identity and become her own person?


Warrior Princess: The Emerald Flame by Frewin Jones

Branwen has finally accepted that the Shining Ones have chosen her to save her country from the Saxon invaders. But the next stage in her journey includes a seemingly impossible mission, and the path before her is filled with darkness and danger. Branwen is pushed to the brink of disaster, and with each step she takes, she is being pulled farther from the life she once knew—the life she still desperately misses.
Guided by the spirits, with both her fearless friend Rhodri and the dashing, sometimes maddening Iwan by her side, Branwen must overcome terrifying odds if she is to succeed in her quest. But a true Warrior Princess won't back down . . . even when an old enemy returns.


Warrior Princess: Destiny's Path by Frewin Jones

Branwen refuses to take orders from anyone—even the Shining Ones. The ancient gods have marked her as the one fated to save her country from the Saxons. But is she truly ready to be a leader?
Then a messenger from the skies shows her a vision of a bleak and violent future, a future in which Branwen has abandoned her destiny, and those most dear to her suffer unspeakable horrors. There's a blurry line between good and evil, and those Branwen trusts the most are capable of the greatest betrayal. The Shining Ones have spoken. Will Branwen answer their call? (This is the paperback and I already had the hardcover, so it might become a contest prize or something)


Cleopatra Rules! by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Good. Evil. Dangerous. Glamorous. Will the real Cleopatra please stand up? Almost everything we know about the last queen of Egypt came from her enemies—the Romans. Now it’s time to meet the “real” Cleopatra, a ruler more complex, brilliant, and powerful than we ever knew. Cleopatra didn’t just rock the boat when she became queen at seventeen. She rocked the world with brilliant alliances that kept her in power and in control. When Mark Antony tried to put Egypt under his thumb, she negotiated for—and won—more territory than any Egyptian ruler had snagged in generations. Cleopatra didn’t just play by the rules. She made them up as she went along. She bowed to no one, including Octavian—the future Caesar Augustus—who never missed an opportunity to pump out anti-Cleopatra propaganda. The queen of Egypt has fascinated the world for thousands of years. It’s time to find out why. So, on your knees, commoner! The world’s most brilliant and outrageous queen—Cleopatra VII, the last Pharaoh of Egypt—is about to make her entrance. Includes maps, endnotes, timeline, glossary, sources, and index.