West. The sound of a wish in a single word. That's how seventeen-year-old Lovisa King put it that spring of 1845 as she set off with her parents, eleven of her siblings, and their assorted spouses and children for Oregon Country, the promised land. From the opening lines, the reader is immersed in the excitement, challenges, exhaustion and elation, triumphs and tragedies of the journey, as an oft-told tale takes on a new freshness, seen through the eyes and the heart of this gritty young woman. Lovisa King is a flesh-and-blood teenager-feisty, funny, and wise beyond her years. With the crossing as catalyst, we watch her mature from a headstrong girl to a young woman beginning her adult life in the Kings Valley of western Oregon, a goal attained only through the harshest of sacrifices. The importance of this novel's historical terrain-the Oregon Trail--cannot be disputed. Neither can the importance of its human terrain-loss of innocence, alteration of long-held attitudes toward the other, emerging concepts of love and family. dramatic, personal, and gripping way.

    Their story is told over seven days of fierce and deadly street-by-street fighting. Vasily is a patriotic Russian soldier determined to rid his country of the hated Nazi invaders -- if he can stay alive long enough. Conrad is a German tank officer, part of the seemingly unstoppable force sweeping eastward over the steppe, expecting a quick victory over Stalin's ill-trained and badly equipped army. Between them is eight-year-old Sergei, whose home is the maze of rubble that used to be the city of Stalingrad. None of them can know that their fates will be intertwined as the cataclysm engulfs them.

    The genre is both complex and controversial, encompassing novels that range from romance and fantasy to stark historical realism. The book examines the various approaches to young adult historical fiction and explores the issues that it has engendered. Part One focuses on the broader issues spawned by the genre itself, including its various subgenres - the line between fiction and fact; to what degree must an author adhere to historical accuracy?; time boundaries; the diary format; the protagonist as the outsider; who is entitled to write what?; and literary concerns such as the relationship between accuracy and readability. Part Two explores issues of contemporary interest, such as race, class, gender, the immigrant experience, religion, war, and nationalism. Thought-provoking discussions of how these elements are treated in historical novels, with emphasis on how current cultural values have shaped the fiction, are presented. Finally, the question of whether novels in this genre are bound by anything other than their respective period setting is posed, and it is contended that there are features common to YA historical novels that not only set the genre apart from other YA fiction, but also contribute something unique to the larger genre. The genesis for much classroom debate, suggestions for class discussions and writing assignments as well as sample written responses of these debates from the authors' classes are included. Teachers, librarians, instructors of young adult literature courses, and teen readers will find this an insightful analysis of YA historical fiction.

    Here in one volume are three of her most gripping novels in which she describes the courage and humour with which the fishing families face up to the hard conditions of their lives.The Flither Pickers of Sandwick Bay spend their days gathering shellfish on the shore - limpets and mussels - and baiting the lines for the fishermen . The story centres on young Liza Welford whose mother is haunted by an accident in the past.In THE HERRING GIRLS, when tragedy strikes the Lythe family, 13-year-old Dory joins the tough world of the Scotch herring girls in Whitby in order to earn money and save her brothers and sisters from the workhouse.Family life is destroyed for Ann and Polly Lancroft in BENEATH BURNING MOUNTAIN when the violent and merciless press-gangs invade the cliffs where men and women create alum crystals for a livelihood - and their home is wiped out by a sudden landslide.Skilfully blending fiction with reality, Theresa Tomlinson has written three moving and absorbing stories of close-knit communities of fisher-folk a hundred years ago whose whole existence is governed by the sea.