Sarah Anne Hartford

American Diaries #1

by Kathleen Duey

Breaking the Sabbath by playing on a snowy hill, Sarah of Puritan Massachusetts records in her 1650 diary her difficult choice between upsetting her father and letting someone else be punished for her actions. Original.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Kathleen Duey grew up in Colorado. She loved riding her horses, hiking, being in the mountains. Reading was always important to her. Writing became a fascination early in her life. In the fourth grade, Kathleen began writing stories and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be an author. Then she did nothing about it until she was 35 years old. Writing was her passion and her dream-come-true.

from: fantasticfiction.co.uk

Kathleen died of cardiac arrest at her home in Fallbrook, California. She was 69. She had struggled with dementia in her latter years which prevented her from completing her Skin Hunger trilogy.

https://web.archive.org/web/202101052...

Reviews

[Autumn Maisy Raquet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one looks good looks interesting I like the picture of that girl she's very beautiful and I would love to read this one a lot our library doesn't get old books in though and I love history fiction books about women 😹

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah is a twelve-year-old Puritan girl living in Massachusetts in 1651. She is dreadfully unhappy because she fears her widowed father plans to marry a strict woman who dislikes Sarah and considers her to be poorly behaved. Playing on Sundays is strictly forbidden by the Puritan church. But one Sunday after a snow storm, Sarah and her best friend, Elizabeth (whose parents are considered to be somewhat freethinking for Puritans) can't help themselves, and they start to play in the snow, when they notice someone watching them and flee. Later, Mistress Goddard (Sarah's potential future stepmother) comes forward and announces that she saw Elizabeth and her brother Roger (she thought Sarah was Roger because she had borrowed his coat) broke the rules of the Sabbath. Now Roger will be punished when Sarah is the one who broke the rules. Can Sarah find the courage to come forward with the truth? A good middle grade historical fiction read that brings to life Puritan New England. I think this was the first book I read from the American Diaries series when I was around ten years old.

[Young Adult Historical Vault · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. For a book that's only 150 pages long, it goes on for an awfully long time! The plot doesn't move along all that well, and the characters are all completely flat. The writing is definitely not the best and there are long passages where nothing happens but every single action someone takes is described in explicit, boring detail! Could have really benefited from a glossary at the end as well, because there's plenty of terms that I don't think your average young reader would be all that familiar with and it doesn't engage the reader enough to seek out any more information on the topic! The plot is awfully thin, and seems to be much more of an excuse to talk about why it was so awful to be a girl in the Puritan period rather than actually teach. Readers could choose far better books on the Puritan experience!

For my full recap and reviews for details on why I didn't like this: check out Young Adult Historical Vault https://yahistoricalvault.com/2016/05...

[Miss Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

gr 4-7 141 pgs

1651, Salem, Massachusetts. 12 year old Sarah didn't mean to laugh and play in the snow with her friend Elizabeth. The punishment for such behavior on the Sabbath is harsh. When one of the villagers mistakenly identifies Elizabeth and her brother Roger (Roger had lent Sarah his coat to wear on the walk home) as the Sabbath breakers. Sarah faces a difficult choice. Should she tell the truth or let Roger take the blame?

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember enjoying this book. It was kinda neat hearing about the Puritans & some of their practices, even if from a work of fiction.

[Emi えみ Takami 鷹見 · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars