Books with author Elizabeth G. Speare

As a young boy, 18-year-old Daniel witnessed his father’s crucifixion at the hands of the Romans. Consumed by hate, his one desire is to drive the legions from Israel. But as he works with a band of outlaws using guerrilla tactics, he also begins to pay attention to the teachings of a wandering rabbi from a nearby town. Caught between his desire for revenge and the demands of his family, Daniel goes repeatedly to hear Jesus preach. Each time he leaves disappointed that Jesus doesn’t take a stand against the Romans. Will Daniel learn to heed the message of forgiveness before his violent lifestyle leads to disaster? Twice awarded the Newbery Medal, Elizabeth George Speare also received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in recognition of her collected body of historical fiction. Narrator Pete Bradbury gracefully brings life to Daniel and deftly illuminates the world he lived in.

Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1867. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met. Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit’s friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Award–winning novel portrays a heroine whom readers will admire for her unwavering sense of truth as well as her infinite capacity to love.

In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War. It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister"s baby, Captive, born on the trail. Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined. Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history.