Her students think so...well, some of them do.
Why? Because when they have an annoying
history assignment threatening to take them away from more...uhm...interesting activities, suddenly they find themselves winging their way all the way through time so they live history in a way that shows them history matters.
Penny Estelle...what an amazing
author who sees history in such breathtakingly beautiful colors.
Through her Wickware Sagas series, she has presented history so brilliantly, a lover of history, like me, still can learn things making history all the more current, personal, and thrilling...and in a way no school history book has ever done.
She began the series with book one...Billy Cooper's Awesome Nightmare...released June 2012
William Tell...I thought I knew everything there was to know about the man with the bow and arrow and the apple...but I was wrong. Just like Billy Cooper, I was about to learn history is alive, exciting, and worth spending time studying.
The cover shows a rather scared Billy Cooper. Personally, having read the book, I think it's more Billy discovering he's glad to be a part of the William Tell time in history, and what he thought was ho-hum, is now OMG!
Another things I have loved about this series, is how many of the books Ms. Estelle has given us. I LOATHE how long it usually it takes to get books in a series. Ms. Estelle is much kinder to her fans.
Book Two...Ride of a Lifetime...
Released on June 7, 2013
Jim Abernathy has just transferred into the school where Miss Wickware teaches history. He's a cooler than any dude Californian...so he's far too...current...for history...until Miss Wickware intercedes.
Jim Abernathy is about to get up close and far too personally involved with a young girl, Sybil Ludington, whose ride may not have gotten the publicity Paul Revere's did...but is an integral ride during the Revolutionary War and one Jim Abernathy is about to become a part of...as it happens.
Book Three in The Wickware Sagas...
Flash to the Past.
Released on July 19, 2013
Sometimes teens tend to be snooty...why should anyone waste their time with history? There are far more important things to bother with...and Kristy Sawyer can thing of tons of them...but Miss Wickware has other plans for Kristy, and nerdy Larry Peables...talk about a blending from hell! Kristy can't help scrunching up her nose at such a partnership...especially when Kristy and Larry find themselves back in 1778, Trenton, Molly Pitcher, and the Battle at Monmouth. Kristy wants to bat her eyes and get Larry to do whatever she wants, but Molly teaches both Kristy and Larry why history matters, and how exciting it can really be.
Book Four in Penny Estelle's The Wickware Sagas is...
Bumped Back In Time
Released on September 27, 2013
Sammy Brown winner of the first junior sailing regatta cut school the day before to do so, has been asked by Miss Wickware to stay after class the next day.
Why would the old witch wanna make her stay after? It's not like she'd really miss anything in history class! Certainly nothing as important as the regatta!
A fall right there in the classroom wings her back to the events of the War of 1812 where her sailing skills help Francis Scott Key in creating his infamous STAR SPANGLED BANNER.
Book Five
The last in The Wickware Sagas to date is
Riches To Rags...released October 25, 2013
Dylan's a rich kid...a bit high on his own importance, who's about to find out what it's like to be a poor kid, aboard the Orphan Train. You head out from one train depot to the next, hoping at each one you will be adopted, only to swallow your disappointment, climb back on and head on to the next stop.
Dylan learns to care about history by becoming a part of it...he becomes a poor orphan sharing the journey, feeling the hope, disappointment, and despair.
There we have it...so far. Penny Estelle, in sixteen months has given us
FIVE fantastic looks at history, not by giving us the dry, bare-to-the-bones facts available in 99% of history text books, but by giving us a trip back to the time in such a way, you can almost smell the scents in the air...feel the same kind of tension those living the events must have felt, and learn things about events the average texts don't share.
I have learned many things I never knew, and no one makes me want to dive into history more than Penny Estelle...
Penny Estelle, therefore, is a multi-published, award winning Muse It Up Author you will fall madly in love with....
Read one of The Wickware Sagas and you'll happily grab the other four...oh, and like me, be sitting on the edge of your seat, looking forward to the next one.
5 comments:
Lin....You are unbelievable. Such wonderful words. You have made my entire week!
From the bottom of my heart - I thank you!
Very exciting. A beautiful presentation. I look forward to reading the books!
They are fantastic books! It is great seeing my kids get excited about reading and history. I am one happy mom!
I was not aware the Wickware Saga Series were out from author Estelle, but after reading some of her earlies stories, and after seeing this blog I am very excited to getting the series!
Penny, you are MORE than welcome. As a former teacher, I am impressed with the way you bring history to life. I would have happily worked your books into my lesson planning.
Matthew, you will NOT be disappointed.
Jenny...aren't they great? Penny has such a powerful way of writing for this age group, and in a way that will draw them in in spite of the modern age of techno-science.
Kora...I guess I need to do a better job of getting up on the roof tops and shouting out about some of the very gifted authors I am lucky enough to find. I promise I will!
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