Imperfections by Lynda Durrant

In 1862 Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, a teenager names Rosemary Elizabeth is left along with her brother and baby sister at a Shaker village. “Heaven on Earth.” While Rosemary Elizabeth (who comes to be renamed by the Shakers as Sister Bess) loves the beautiful clean surroundings, the delicious abundant food, the spotless white garments and the kindly companions, she finds daily difficulties with the Shaker three Cs — confession, communality, and celibacy — as well as so many additional non-sensical rules. Rosemary struggles to be good according to the ways of the Shakers, but can't help but see the hypocrisy in their lives. Slowly, she begins to rebel in small and large ways to define her own self and comes through her Shaker experience with wonderful balance. She is grateful to all that she has learned while living with the Shakers, but she feels that once the war is over, she will leave. She worries though as to if her mother will come back to get them, and if her siblings, who seem to be acclimating to Shaker life, will want to leave.

I enjoyed the main character of this book because of her thougthfulness and intelligence. I was also amazed at how much the can be learned about the Shakers from reading this book. Clearly this is a subject of interest tot he author and much more interesting to read than a textbook.

The reading level makes is fairly easy. Late elementary and up will enough this piece of historical fiction.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

Hattie Here-and-There (real name is Hattie Brooks) has been pushed from distance relative to distance relative ever since her father and mother died when she was a child. After receiving a letter to prove up on her uncle's claim in Montana, she leaves Iowa, where she has been living as a charity case with her aunt and uncle, and heads west hoping to finally find what she has always been looking for... home.

While excited about her adventure, she soon learns that homesteading is a difficult life for everyone, but especially a 16 year old female without a family. She is befriend by the neighboring family that involves her in the politics of this small Montana town because the husband is German. Because the book is set during World War I, there are many additionally hardships that people of German descent faced. Hattie stands up for what she believes is right even if it means offending the most powerful landowners in the town.

The book is engaging and the narrative switches between her thoughts, her letters to her childhood friend/ love that is fight in Europe, and a to her uncle that is published as a column in an Iowa paper. This further makes it more interesting to read and the story moves quickly.

I will say that I thought the ending was rushed. Once everyone gets sick, what was taking her chapters to build up to all ended too fast for my taste. But perhaps if you like short books, you will be happy that she gets to the end so quickly. :) In addition to being a Newbery Honor book for 2007, this novel is also based on the author’s own family history; her great grandmother was the original Hattie who struck out on her own on the Montana prairie as a sixteen year old. I thought that was pretty cool. I love a good pioneer story. It took me back to Little House on the Prairie, but better.