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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Yesterday's Dead by Pat Bourke

Thirteen-year old Meredith was used to working hard in her own family but wasn't ready to take on the household of Dr. Waterton where she had to put up with cranky help and unkind children. The only pleasant person was the cook, Mrs. Butters.  I absolutely loved Mrs. Butters...she would be the perfect person to have around if you were missing your mother as Meredith was.  Meredith had been yanked out of her household and had to work since her father had died in the war, and her mother needed extra income. 

Dr. Waterton was a kind person even with all the stress he was under with his children to raise since wife had died and the Spanish Flu to contend with.

Since Meredith had to make a good impression on the Watertons, she did her utmost to make everything work out as best as she could, especially when everyone began to fall ill from the Spanish flu.  Meredith is the main character, and you will love her, her strength, her level-headedness, and her sweetness.

Even though I normally do not read YA books, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I always enjoy books set in the early 1900's and am always amazed how people cooked in stoves that were powered by coal.  I also enjoy the setup of the households of the wealthy in terms of how many servants they had and how they were treated and how the servants treated each other.  

This is a book for those who love historical fiction and have a love of the life Americans, Canadians, and Europeans lived before all our conveniences and medicines.  It actually is frightening in terms of illnesses with no antibiotics to cure anyone. Wonder if antibiotics would have had any effect in this strain of the flu?

Enjoy the book....I certainly did and benefited from the history lesson. I definitely enjoyed the interaction among the characters. This would make a great discussion in a classroom in terms of how today's youth would feel about the way the characters reacted to each other and how illnesses are treated differently today.   In fact, there would be many topics for interesting group discussions. 5/5
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14 comments:

  1. ElizabethMarch 20, 2012 at 12:53 AM

    A book to learn from.

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  2. UnknownMarch 20, 2012 at 1:01 AM

    Sounds like a great book. I'm not much on YA either but I'd make an exception for this one.

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  3. bermudaonionMarch 20, 2012 at 8:53 AM

    I bet my mother would enjoy this one. She remembers cooking on a wood stove and the time before antibiotics.

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  4. AnonymousMarch 20, 2012 at 11:19 AM

    Thanks for the review, Elizabeth. I just added it to my list. :)

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  5. Annette MillsMarch 20, 2012 at 12:21 PM

    My kind of book. Historical and YA. Thanks for the review. It's on my list....

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  6. Michael DiackMarch 21, 2012 at 12:32 AM

    Hi, I'm following your blog as well. Great reviews and design, is the picture at the top from Scotland? I recognize it from somewhere but can't place it.

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  7. Jyoti BabelMarch 21, 2012 at 6:05 AM

    Looks like another engrossing read!

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  8. jenmomMarch 21, 2012 at 5:14 PM

    Thanks for sharing your review! And thank you for your sweet comment over at my place...very nice to meet you and I'll be following you now as well!!

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  9. HKatzMarch 21, 2012 at 5:18 PM

    This sounds like a book I'd enjoy - a strong main character who's also a girl, and the historical setting and details; thanks for the recommendation. I don't think that for Spanish flu there would have been much that could be done that, including antibiotics.

    Thanks also for stopping by my blog and following it by email. In answer to your comment there, it's also possible to Google follow it (the widget is at the bottom of the main page of the blog, the reason being that it only recently started working, though I'm still testing it out to see if people do show up on it when they click 'follow'). In any case, I'm Google-following your blog now :) I've had a look around and I loved the Scotland photos especially - gorgeous.

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  10. Penny Lockwood EhrenkranzMarch 21, 2012 at 6:15 PM

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm now following you, too. I'll have to check out what types of books you review. I write for both adults and children. I enjoyed reading your review.

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  11. farpastmidnightMarch 22, 2012 at 2:07 AM

    Hi Elzabeth,
    thank you for the follow! Out of curiosity I visited your blog and now... you have a new follower!

    Ro.

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  12. Peggy StrackMarch 23, 2012 at 4:17 PM

    Always good to see a review about a new book. Thanks. Found your blog on Book Blogs and am now following you.

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  13. Rachel CotterillMarch 23, 2012 at 5:56 PM

    Sounds really interesting, thanks for the recommendation :) Following back - pleased to meet you! Where's your header picture? It reminds me of some of the Scottish coastal towns I've visited.

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  14. Ann SummervilleMarch 23, 2012 at 7:58 PM

    I just read Deadly which is a YA that I don't normally read either. It's a fictitious story based at the time of Typhoid Mary.
    Ann

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