Saturday, March 24, 2012

Student Saturday: A Land Remembered - Patrick D. Smith

Publisher:  Pineapple Press
Pages:  235
Genre:  Middle Grade, Historical Fiction
Student Reviewer:  Mirielle

A Land Remembered is a book that takes the reader on a journey back in time to a more difficult era.  In many ways it was a much simpler life as well.  The story takes place in the Florida scrubs and the year is 1858.

The main characters start with Tobias MacIvey who is a husband and father.  he has strong moral values and is looking for a better life for himself and his family.  Emma MacIvey is his wife and mother of their son.  Her quiet strength and never ending support for her husband is to be admired.  Zech MacIvey is their son.  He starts as just an infant when the story begins and turns into a curious and outgoing boy as the story goes on.

This story tells of a man bringing his family from Georgia to the Florida wilderness.  They are escaping the Civil War in Georgia and also trying to make a better life with a fresh start for his family in Florida.  There are many challenges to surviving the Florida wilderness.  Tobias is known to be a fair and honest man who respected the land and the people on it.  Tobias and his family start out with almost nothing but through strength and tenacity they surprise even themselves by the magnitude of their accomplishments.  Along their journey they become friends with the Seminole Indians and they also make friends with an ex-slave both of which help them immensely.  The family's livelihood came from herding wild cows in the scrubs.  The story goes on to tell about their hardships and successes.

I wish that I could have been there with them on their exciting journey into the wilderness.  This book however did make me feel as close to really being there as I could be.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to explore the world how it once was.  From this book I learned so much about the Florida wilderness of that time and the people that lived there.  I truly loved this book.

1 comment: