Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner
Hardcover, 390 Pages
2010, Viking Juvenile
ISBN: 0670012459
Synopsis
It's 1910, and thirteen-year-old Raisa has just traveled alone from a small Polish shtetl all the way to New York City. It's overwhelming, awe-inspiring, and even dangerous, especially when she discovers that her sister has disappeared and she must now fend for herself. She finds work in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sewing bodices on the popular shirtwaists. Raisa makes friends and even-dare she admit it?- falls in love. But then 1911 dawns, and one March day a spark ignites in the factory. One of the city's most harrowing tragedies unfolds, and Raisa's life is forever changed. . . .
One hundred years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, this moving young adult novel gives life to the tragedy and hope of this transformative event in American history.
Review
Threads and Flames should have been terrible. I mean, an immigrant who sews? A factory that catches fire? Not my type of book at all.
To my complete surprise, I was sucked in almost immediately. Raisa is a strong character that you want to root for. Her struggle in coming to America, and trying to make a life for herself while also searching for her sister was just totally enthralling. The story is written in a way that you feel as though you are seeing this new, strange world with Raisa for the very first time.
Threads and Flames shines light on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, an event I'd imagine most people of my generation and younger haven't heard much about. More than the horror of what those workers experienced, it was an educational look at working conditions in the early 1900s.
Raisa's experiences throughout Threads and Flames are highly emotional ones and the feeling really shine through the writing. Beyond being entertained and educated, I was emotionally invested in what happened to Raisa. I felt for her, was scared for her, rejoiced for her and ultimately fell in love with her and this story. Threads and Flames is a novel that will change the way you think about the world.
Rating
Links
Esther Friesner's
Website
Website
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
Hardcover, 416 Pages
2007, Scholastic Press
ISBN: 0439918480
Synopsis
The year is 490 AD. Fiery 16-year-old Elaine of Ascolat, the daughter of one of King Arthur's supporters, lives with her father on Arthur's base camp, the sole girl in a militaristic world of men. Elaine's only girl companion is the mysterious Morgan, Arthur's older sister, but Elaine cannot tell Morgan her deepest secret: She is in love with Lancelot, Arthur's second-in-command. However, when yet another girl -- the lovely Gwynivere-- joins their world, Elaine is confronted with startling emotions of jealousy and rivalry. But can her love for Lancelot survive the birth of an empire?
Review
I love Arthurian legend and usually take great pleasure reading books based on the subject. Song of the Sparrow gives readers a look at Arthur, Lancelot, Gwynivere and other well known characters in their pre-Camelot days from Elaine of Ascolat's view. Elaine, as the author points out in a note at the end of the book, is a much lesser known character than the others and the choice of making her the main character confused me.
Elaine is a dynamic lead in the book, wholly her own character and quite memorable. Her influence on Arthur and many of his knights is strong, making her sort of hard to believe. Plucking a obscure woman from myth and making her that hugely important in what led to the creation of Camelot irked me.
Song of the Sparrow is written in verse, which will annoy some readers. While the story is entertaining and creative, the structure of the novel feels like a cop-out. Song of the Sparrow is essentially a short story, only appearing to be novel length due to each line of text only containing an average of three to five words. While verse novels can be elegantly crafted in the right context, Song of the Sparrow's words read like a prose novel. The story didn't fit the style it was told in.
I enjoyed the story in Song of the Sparrow, but had trouble getting past the writing style and Elaine's influence on the men. The book was creative and entertaining, but didn't completely work for me.
Rating
Links
Lisa Ann Sandell's
Website
Website
My decision:
Choosing between Threads and Flames and Song of the Sparrows was an easy decision. One book took things I couldn't even pretend to be interested in and made me care deeply and passionately about them. The other took something I loved and made it less exciting and harder to read than it should have been. Threads and Flames was the clear winner for me.
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