Reviews for Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap

The average rating for Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-03-23 00:00:00 James Martin I didn't think I'd like this book. Yes, it had a fantasy element, but it was written like historical fiction, which I've been avoiding. Anyway, I liked it. It read extremely fast - the plot builds and builds but isn't predictable at all. I couldn't believe I was more than half way through when I checked. And I read it during breaks at work, so it kept my interest through lots of short spats. It's a fascinating blend of genres. I think I'll categorize it as magically realistic historical fiction. This is the story of two little girls, and the important roles they play in bringing peace to a fictional batch of islands. One of the girls is "child governor" of the island - being the daughter of the slain Anglish Governor. The other is a native child. The Anglish landed on this set of islands when their boat wreaked on the shores. The boat was en route to America, delivering indentured servants. Thus, all of the Anglish on this set of islands were criminals back in England. There is predictable conflict between the Anglish and the Colay (natives)... Anyway, the story talks about colonization at a child's level, cultural identity, literacy, the role of story in society, historiography, race, physical appearence, ethics... the list goes on and on. I really liked that the blemishes both girls have are relative nonissues beyond being a nice basis for attitude comparison. At first, I didn't like that most of the characterizations were fairly archtypical, but the author does a nice job of redeeming most characters. Oh, and I loved the author's historical note at the end. She's done her research. Anyway, great book. I'm gonna see if I can get away with booktalking it to 5th/6th graders, even though the main characters are 12. --- I find myself randomly thinking about this book and wishing more people had read it. Four years after I read it. So it deserves to pop up in my feed again. Especially while I'm so behind on my reviews.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-08-20 00:00:00 Ben Brewer Despite its delightful and inviting cover, and promises of magic and adventure on the cover flap, this book fails to live up to its promises. Set in the late 1700s on some fictional islands off the coast of North America, this is a story of colonizers and colonized'and of magic, both good and bad, and of prophecies. The colonizers are the shipwrecked survivors of three ships of British convicts (referred to as the Anglish) being sent to the American Colonies as indentured servants. Instead of reaching America, they are blown off course and land on an island that is part of a group of islands inhabited by a brown-skinned people called the Colay. The English - or Anglish, as they are referred to, quickly claim the territory for Britain, and set up a society within a walled in city that is based very much on British class society of the time'except that all the members of the nobility are convicts, just like everyone else. Some of these convicts are more ethical than others, and the relatively good Governor and his wife are soon murdered in a plot that falsely implicates the Colay. Renard, an evil Anglishman who arranges this has his eye on the governorship for himself, and only Snowcap, the twelve-year-old Child Governor, and the Colay stand in his way. When Snowcap overhears plans to kidnap and murder her, she runs away into the woods outside the Anglish settlement, with little plan of what further to do. Meanwhile, Lucy, a twelve-year-old child of the Colay, overhears an unpleasant interchange between Renard, who her father had hoped to make a trading treaty with. Shortly after this meeting, all the men and boys of the Colay are turned to stone, and Lucy thinks it is no coincidence. When her mother gives birth to a baby boy, Lucy takes her him to the main island, in search of Colay philosophers, in the hope that he will be the prophesied child who can turn around the evil curse. The two girls inevitably meet, and after a difficult beginning, based largely on Snowcap's rudeness and sense of entitlement, realize they need each other. They set off together to solve their problems, with Renard and his henchman Sir Markham hot on their trail, as well as the governor's groom and schoolmaster, who show surprising willingness to assist Snowcap after her recent humiliating treatment of each of them. Thus ensue what should be exciting adventures, which unfortunately fall flat, in part due to lack of character development, and in part due to lack of plot development. Nothing is very remarkable, nor is it true. A novel about an encounter with a real English girl and a Native American in the early years of the American Colonies would have been more interesting.