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more mystery and adventure...

a stolen life

A Kindle e-book.

A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION

The year is 1758. Lively Jamesina Mackenzie's three older brothers, who are with the British army in America, and her father and youngest brother, living in exile in France, have left her in the care of her grandfather and aunts and uncles in their clan's homeland on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. Yet danger reaches Jamesina even there, surrounded by Mackenzies. She is snatched from the shore by "spiriters," men who kidnap children and young people to sell to planters and farmers in America as bond slaves. She wakes to find herself a prisoner aboard the Sparrowhawk, bound for Virginia. The hardships and adventures that follow take her from Shaws Plantation to the mountains of Cherokee country, on the strangest of all roads home. This gripping story, carefully researched, gives a fascinating picture of the early days of our country as experienced by an appealing and courageous girl.


"... Curry successfully combines little-known facts about US history with a page-turning tale of hardships overcome. The jacket painting instantly evokes Jamesina’s world; in text and in art, she’s an appealing heroine, full of old-fashioned spunk." -- KIRKUS REVIEWS

"...perfect for classes using novels to explore the history of the period." --BOOKLIST

"... exciting prerevolutionary histoncal fiction with a courageous heroine." -- SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL


the big smith snatch

A Kindle e-book.



When the Smith family-- close-knit, loving, and poor-- is split apart, the four younger children are assigned by a conscientious social worker to spend a night or two with the Dickerys, the only foster family available to take all four children. Only twelve-year-old Belinda (called Boo), out on an errand, escapes the official net. When it becomes clear to ten-year-old Cisco that the Dickerys have kidnapped him and his three younger siblings, he wonders why. As they are taught to play odd games called "Seek" and "Snatch" with the couple's seven other children, Cisco and Poppy, who is next to him in age, finally realize they are being trained to be burglars. In this exciting mystery-adventure, inspired by the story of a real Baby Burglars gang, Boo-- helped by an old bag lady-- and Cisco and Poppy work independently to find each other again and foil the villains.

"[M]uch of this tale's delight comes from the large family with its poverty, warmth, and loyalty, as well as children's fascination with sudden emergencies and the need for resourcefulness. A good, involving story." --SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

"And while at times the outlook may seem overwhelmingly bleak, Curry keeps her readers secure in the knowledge that Boo and others around her, flawed as they may be, will triumph." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY