The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Youth Fiction - 3.5 stars

Choose to lie, or you will most certainly die. This is the introduction the reader gets to, Conner, a nobleman who devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son, Jaron, and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are less then honorable, but he must be chosen to play the prince or he will be killed. 

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's palace, treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, may prove more dangerous than all of the lies.

Megan and I read this incredible Game of Thrones for middle-schoolers for her school book club, and we were both impressed with the storyline, with the character development, and with the integrity of the main character. We both highly recommend it!

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

Historical Fiction -4.5 stars

I am a huge Philippa Gregory fan, and this book is no exception. This standalone sequel to The White Queen is told through the eyes of Lady Margaret Beaufort. As a girl, she had visions of being Joan of Arc and performing some grand feat for God. Instead, she was rejected by her first fiancé, she became first a mother and then a widow at 13, and then married (Henry Stafford)and was widowed again several years later. She wed her fourth husband (Lord Stanley) in a pure business arrangement, including being granted a vow of chastity. While not at the altar or mourning, Lady Margaret was maneuvering in court and out to place her son, Henry, onto the throne as he was the next Lancaster heir. The Red Queen offers a portrait of a woman who refused to believe that she was not the most important in God's eyes. Her arrogance and unrelenting desire for her son to be king prove to be successful as her son becomes Henry VII, father to Henry VIII and grandfather to Elizabeth I. I recommend the book, but I do not like Margaret. Her nickname, "t' old bitch", proves absolutely true.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Fiction - 5 stars

In this full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville is said to have been caused by the gigantic ghostly hound which has haunted his family for generations. However, when Dr. Mortimer involves Sherlock Holmes in the mystery, Holmes characteristically dismisses the theory as nonsense. Claiming to be immersed in another case, he sends Dr. Watson to protect Sir Henry, the Baskerville heir, and to observe the suspects first hand. Mystery abounds in this story, and Megan and I thoroughly enjoyed Conan Doyle's deliberate use of character to keep the reader out of the loop. While it stands on its own as wonderful story, for its time, I can imagine that reading each chapter in The Strand was something for which people held their breath.  Megan and I both recommend it highly!
                       

 

The Call of the Wild and White Fang, by Jack London

Fiction - 5 stars

Megan presented three books for her book club to choose the one their next going to read, and White Fang was one of her three choices. While they did not pick that one to read, I decided to read it anyway, I got the combo of The Call of the Wild and White Fang on my nook, and I really couldn't read one without the other.

So, I began with The Call of the Wild, London's masterpiece about Buck, 1/2 St. Bernard, 1/2 Scotch shepherd who lives a comfortable life as a family dog in California. He's taken from his pampered surroundings and shipped to Alaska to be a sled dog. In Alaska, the landscape is as harsh as life itself during the gold rush of the 1890s. All but forgetting his earlier existence, Buck succumbs to his instincts, encountering danger and adventure as he becomes the leader of a wolf pack and undertakes a near-mythical journey, ultimately to answer the undeniable call of the wild. The details come from London's knowledge of Alaskan frontier life, and they make the writing exquisite. Once it was finished, I immediately began reading White Fang.

Although written much later, White Fang has often been called a companion novel to The Call of the Wild because it takes the story and reverses it. The story begins with a glimpse into the life of a wolfpack, hunting and finding prey often among the sled dogs of the 19th Century Klondike Gold Rush. White Fang's mother is part dog, part wolf, and when she and another wolf have puppies, White Fang is the only survivor.  Living in the frozen north, he learns to hunt in the wild, and then is "adopted" by Gray Beaver, an Indian living in a camp on the Mackintosh River. White fang is the alpha male, and he is well-known for his ability to strike dogs dead in an instant. When Gray Beaver enters Fort Yukon with White Fang, he is immediately noticed by Beauty Smith, a cruel man who manipulates Gray Beaver with whisky and gambling to gain White Fang as a debt payment. Beauty places White Fang in the dogfight ring where he is undefeated, until a pitbull is introduced and White Fang is nearly destroyed by the men's vicious cruelty. He is saved by Weedon Scott, and under Scotts care, White Fang is lucky enough to experience the one thing that can save him human love. He gradually comes under the spell of man's companionship, and when Scott returns to his family home in California, White Fang is is constant companion and eventually proves his worth to everyone.


I can't say enough about these books. I enjoyed them from the moment I began, and while the cruelty is hard to read, it gives a true glimpse into a period of history that many of us don't know about. People, as well as their dogs, had to be tough survivalists, doing anything to stay alive. Also, the adventurers who went to Alaska to seek fortune in the gold rush were not all peace-loving men. They were a mix of entrepreneurs and alcoholics, low-lifes and fur traders, businessmen and ex-convicts. London again had first-hand knowledge of these men, and depicts their lifestyle vividly in both books.

I love them both and recommend them to anyone who likes animals or is interested in the history of our country.