ANNOTATION

In the journal she receives for her twelfth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the journal she receives for her twelfth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

FROM THE CRITICS

The ALAN Review - Marjorie M. Kaiser

In this the latest of the Dear America Series, thirteen-year-old Lucinda Lawrence struggles to help her family survive the isolation and deprivation of colonial life in Texas. Covering a time period of about a year before the battle at the Alamo, 10 years before Texas becomes a state in 1845, Garland pictures the families in one Texan colony as they battle Santa Anna and his Mexican army to save their property, possessions, and rights. In short diary entries Lucinda gives her readers a biased yet touching view of what it means to grow up early, to endure great hardships, to suffer the loss of family members to war, and most important, to see more than one side of the moral/political situations inherent in American colonialism. Despite the occasional lapse of credibility in Lucinda's voice and vocabulary, in general, Garland delivers a story that is at once believable, instructive, and moving. Accompanied by a chapter of Texas history and assorted photographs and maps, this historical novel seems ideal for grades 7-10, but older teens may find this book charming, too.