Isabel: Taking Wing (Girls of Many Lands - England) - Softcover

Grade 5-8-Isabel, 12, lives under the rule of her strict Aunt Elinor. Dreaming of freedom and adventure, she sneaks across the Thames to see a play at the Rose Theatre, but is discovered and sent to live with her Aunt de Vere. On the journey to her aunt's country estate, Isabel is robbed and left alone in the forest. Disguised as a boy, she not only finds protection in a traveling actors' troupe, but she performs a few roles as well. Safely delivered to Aunt de Vere's door, she is impressed by the educated woman who teaches her the power of healing herbs and the innate strength of her gender. When she receives a letter from her sister imploring her to return home to care for their younger sibling, who may have the plague, Isabel takes charge, heals Hope, and proves that girls can think for themselves and make their own choices. Isabel is an intelligent, thoughtful child who feels indignation, fear, resolve, sadness, love, and joy. The short chapters told in first person move along at a fast pace. A final note comparing English life then and now is included. Share this book with readers who enjoyed Karen Cushman's The Midwife's Apprentice (Clarion, 1995) and Susan Cooper's King of Shadows (McElderry, 1999).
Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 3-7. Twelve-year-old Isabel Campion chafes at the restrictions placed on girls living in her late-sixteenth-century London neighborhood. After she sneaks away to see a play at the Rose Theater and is caught coming home late, her father decides to send her to live with a widowed aunt. Aunt de Vere, a knowledgeable herbalist, proves an unexpected ally, and the skills and maturity that Isabel learns during her stay prove to be both useful and appreciated by the Campion family. Dalton's strength is her attention to setting details; she vividly describes clothing, family life for the wealthy merchant class, the burgeoning theater industry, and the squalor of lower-class life in inner-city London that contributed to the spread of diseases like the plague. Appended notes about life in England then and now add depth to this offering from the Girls of Many Lands series, which makes a good choice for readers curious about everyday life long ago. Kay Weisman
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