Books with author Jean Rae Baxter

In her fourth historical novel dealing with British North America and the American Revolution, Jean Rae Baxter focuses on Broken Trail, a young boy who was born white but captured and adopted by the Oneida people. The great Mohawk leader Thayendanegea - known to Euro-Canadians as Joseph Brant - has chosen Broken Trail to assist him in the daunting task of uniting all the tribes and nations with the goal of establishing a country of their own. In preparation, Broken Trail must attend a Christian boarding school for native youth, where he soon finds that he has to gain the trust of young men from many different tribes whose ancient enmities lie barely concealed beneath the surface. With the help of Yellowbird, the only woman student, he discovers that the school - racist in the extreme - is a place of secrets where appearances can be deceiving and loyalty is sometimes proven in unexpected ways. As a first step, Brant sends Broken Trail on a long journey to meet with Tecumseh, the young Shawnee leader, to begin the work of union. In this tale of intrigue and adventure, Baxter once again demonstrates her ability to convert the past into living history.

Broken Trail is the story a thirteen-year-old white boy, the son of United Empire Loyalists, who has been captured and adopted by the Oneida people. Striving to find his vision oki that will guide him in his quest to become a warrior, Broken Trail disavows his white heritage — he considers himself Oneida. But everything changes when Broken Trail, alone in the woods on his vision quest, is mistakenly shot by a redcoat soldier. Broken Trail is taken to the soldier's camp and then sent south on a mission to deliver a message to Major Patrick Ferguson that could save many lives. Narrowly escaping being slaughtered in the Battle of Kinds Mountain, Broken Trail finds his long-lost older brother, who had been fighting for the British and has been captured by the rebels.

The fifth volume in the “Forging a Nation” series begins in 1791. The year a new province is created in the country that will one day be called Canada. The year Hope Cobman’s life turns around. At thirteen, she must leave the orphanage where she has lived since her mother’s death one year ago. Alone in the world, she dreams of finding her father and three brothers — all complete strangers to her, for even before her birth the American Revolution had scattered her family. Forced into becoming an indentured servant, she is little more than a slave to a lonely man and his bitter, crippled mother. Finally set free, she sets off on her own. But instead of finding a father and a brother who will take care of her, she learns that it is up to her to help them recover from the wounds of war. Along the way, she discovers her own strength. For Hope, and for all the Loyalists of Upper Canada, a brighter future lies ahead.

This young adult historical novel focuses on Charlotte and her family, Loyalists who are forced to flee their home in the Mohawk Valley as a result of the violence of the “Sons of Liberty” during the American Revolution. At the beginning, fifteen-year-old Charlotte Hooper is separated from her sweetheart, Nick, who sympathizes with the Revolutionaries. The war has already taken the lives of her three brothers, and it is with a sense of desperation that Charlotte and her parents begin the long trek north to the safety of Fort Haldimand (near present-day Kingston). The novel portrays Charlotte’s struggle on the difficult journey north, and the even more difficult task of making a new home in British Canada. In her relationship with Nick, the novel explores how the ideals of the American Revolution were undermined by a revolutionary ethos of violence. In the flight north, the Mohawk nation plays an important role, and Charlotte learns much about their customs and way of life, to the point where she is renamed “Woman of Two Worlds.” Later in the novel she is able to repay her Native friends when she plays an important part in helping the Oneidas to become once again members of the Iroquois confederacy under British protection. The story of Charlotte’s journey north is a tale of paradise lost and a new world gained. Strong and capable, Charlotte breaks the stereotype of the eighteenth-century woman, while revealing the positive relationship between the Loyalists and the Native peoples.

The trouble with trust is once it’s broken, it changes who you are and who you will become—forever.If Michael Jarrid thinks the worst has happened when his parents don't believe him over his pregnant ex-girlfriend’s lie, he is wrong. Feeling alone, he pours all of his heart and soul into a new relationship. What Lacey does to him is even worse . . .Now he doesn't even trust himself. Is his life salvageable?

He just needs the bleeding to stop. The call to 911 sets into motion events fifteen-year-old Ben Braddock never intends. His dad goes to jail. He and his little brother are sent to stay temporarily at the home of their aunt and uncle, with a cousin he can’t stand. Ben is also required to attend counseling sessions to help him eventually be reunited with his father. He comes close to revealing his darkest secrets that first night, now his lips are sealed. His new friends present troubling challenges in order to be accepted.One bright spot amid the chaos is meeting Allie, but when she asks Ben a question a little too personal, his aggressive response shatters her trust and her heart. It spins him into a downward spiral of drinking and worse—he's becoming like his dad. His aunt is on the verge of giving up.With his options depleted, Ben seeks out Patti, his social worker, whose help he's resisted for months. But is it too late for him and Allie? What about his dad? Every story has two sides.

In this, the final instalment of Jean Rae Baxter's best-selling young adult trilogy, eighteen-year-old Charlotte sails from Canada to Charleston in the beleaguered Thirteen Colonies to join her new husband Nick. During these final months of the American Revolution, she must muster all her wit and courage when she has to rescue Nick from being tortured as a spy in an alligator-infested South Carolina swamp. She must also find ways to bring freedom to a pair of teenage runaway slaves she has befriended. Freedom Bound delivers a frank and realistic picture of the slave system and a powerful account of what was at stake for both white and black Loyalists as they prepared to find a new home in the country that was soon to be Canada. Like The Way Lies North and Broken Trail, the two novels that preceded it, Freedom Bound contains a wealth of carefully researched historical details of one of the least known chapters of our history.

This young adult historical novel focuses on Charlotte and her family, Loyalists who are forced to flee their home in the Mohawk Valley as a result of the violence of the ’Sons of Liberty’ during the American Revolution. At the beginning, fifteen-year-old Charlotte Hooper and her parents begin the long trek north to the safety of Fort Haldimand (near present-day Kingston). The novel portrays CharlotteÄôs struggle on the difficult journey north, and the even more difficult task of making a new home in British Canada. In the flight north, the Mohawk nation plays an important role, and Charlotte learns much about their customs and way of life, to the point where she is renamed ’Woman of Two Worlds.’ Later in the novel she is able to repay her aboriginal friends when she plays an important part in helping the Oneidas to become once again members of the Iroquois confederacy under British protection. Strong and capable, Charlotte breaks the stereotype of the eighteenth-century woman, while revealing a positive relationship between the Loyalists and aboriginal peoples.

He just needs the bleeding to stop. The call to 911 sets into motion events fifteen-year-old Ben Braddock never intends. His dad goes to jail. He and his little brother are sent to stay temporarily at the home of their aunt and uncle, with a cousin he can’t stand. Ben is also required to attend counseling sessions to help him eventually be reunited with his father. He comes close to revealing his darkest secrets that first night, now his lips are sealed. His new friends present troubling challenges in order to be accepted.One bright spot amid the chaos is meeting Allie, but when she asks Ben a question a little too personal, his aggressive response shatters her trust and her heart. It spins him into a downward spiral of drinking and worse—he's becoming like his dad. His aunt is on the verge of giving up.With his options depleted, Ben seeks out Patti, his social worker, whose help he's resisted for months. But is it too late for him and Allie? What about his dad? Every story has two sides.

Fiction. Young Adult. It's 1791. The year a new province is created in the country that will one day be called Canada. The year Hope Cobman's life turns around. At thirteen, she must leave the orphanage where she has lived since her mother's death one year ago. Alone in the world, she dreams of finding her father and three brothers – all complete strangers to her, for even before her birth the American Revolution had scattered her family. Forced into becoming an indentured servant, she s little more than a slave to a lonely man and his bitter, crippled mother. Finally set free, she sets off on her own. But instead of finding a father and a brother who will take care of her, she learns that it is up to her to help them recover from the wounds of war. Along the way, she discovers her own strength. For Hope, and for all the Loyalists of Upper Canada, a brighter future lies ahead.

The trouble with trust is once it’s broken, it changes who you are and who you will become—forever. If Michael Jarrid thinks the worst has happened when his parents don't believe him over his pregnant ex-girlfriend’s lie, he is wrong. Feeling alone, he pours all of his heart and soul into a new relationship. What Lacey does to him is even worse . . . Now he doesn't even trust himself. Is his life salvageable?

Fiction. Young Adult Literature. Native American Studies. In her fourth historical novel dealing with British North America and the American Revolution, Jean Rae Baxter focuses on Broken Trail, a young boy who was born white but captured and adopted by the Oneida people. The great Mohawk leader Thayendanegea—known more commonly as Joseph Brant—has chosen Broken Trail to assist him in the daunting task of uniting all the tribes and nations with the goal of establishing a country of their own. In preparation, Broken Trail must attend a Christian boarding school for native youth, where he soon finds that he has to gain the trust of young men from many different tribes whose ancient enmities lie barely concealed beneath the surface. With the help of Yellowbird, the only woman student, he discovers that the school—racist in the extreme—is a place of secrets where appearances can be deceiving and loyalty is sometimes proven in unexpected ways. As a first step, Brant sends Broken Trail on a long journey to meet with Tecumseh, the young Shawnee leader, to begin the work of union. In this tale of intrigue and adventure, Baxter once again demonstrates her ability to convert the past into living history.