Macbeth

Title: Macbeth

Author: William Shakespeare

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Age Category: Young Adult/Adult

    One of Shakespeare's most well-known tragedies, Macbeth is an interesting play depicting a ruthless Scottish Thane and the risks he's willing to take to become king.

Julius Caesar

Title: Julius Caesar

Author: William Shakespeare

Rating: ★⯪☆☆☆

Age Category: Young Adult/Adult

    A dramatic retelling of history, Shakespeare puts a new spin on the story of the death of Caesar and the end of the Roman Republic.

A Place to Hang the Moon

Title: A Place to Hang the Moon

Author: Kate Albus

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    A heartwarming story about three siblings, evacuated from London to the countryside during World War II, who are hoping that a temporary living situation will turn into a forever family.

A Passage to India

Title: A Passage to India

Author: E. M. Forster

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Age Category: Adult Literature

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    E. M. Forster's magnificent novel captures the troubled spirit of India during the Raj. 

    Journeying out to marry Ronny Heaslop the predictable City Magistrate, Adela Quested, full of good intentions but curiously myopic, blunders into an incident which quickens the pulse of Anglo-Indian mutual distrust. 

    What happens to Adela at the infamous Marabar Caves, and the subsequent ordeal of charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, is wrought by E. M. Forster into a drama as memorable and breathtaking as India itself. 

    To read what I thought of this book, and why I rated it 3 stars, visit these two links:

    https://rhiannareadsbooks.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-passage-to-india-chapters-1-16.html

    https://rhiannareadsbooks.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-passage-to-india-chapters-17-37.html

The Angel and the Ring

Title: The Angel and the Ring

Author: Sigmund Brouwer

Rating: ★★★★☆

Age Category: Young Adult

    Back Cover Synopsis:

    Can a thief guard a knight's treasure?

    It's A. D. 1364. A guardian angel is assigned to 16-year-old Brin, the young, fair-haired gypsy born to a dying mother. That was a very bad beginning, the old gypsy women whispered. On top of that, his long-gone father has married Brin's mother in a church. Gypsies didn't go to church. 

    An outcast among his gypsy clan, Brin is a slick pickpocket and a fast runner. But there's no dodging this trouble... a hooded stranger... robbers coming for the mysterious carved ring Brin's father left him... a fight in dark caves... and, worst of all, a beautiful girl he can't trust. 

    Through it all the guardian angel stands ready to protect or direct Brin as God commands. Yet even an angel can't predict human choices. And Brin's inheritance from his earthly father - and his heavenly one - hangs in the balance. 

    If you'd like to check out my opinion on this book, you can visit the links below on my blog Rhianna Reads, where I tell my fellow readers what I'm currently reading and what my thoughts are about the book. 

    https://rhiannareadsbooks.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-angel-and-ring-chapters-1-14.html

    https://rhiannareadsbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-angel-and-ring-chapters-15-28.html

The Scarlet Letter

Title: The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Rating: ★★★★☆

Age Category: Adult Literature

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    The Scarlet Letter is Nathaniel Hawthorne's most famous and highly praised novel. Set in the severe Puritan community of 17th-century Boston, it is a deeply moving novel, rich in psychological insight and human truths. It's main character, Hester Prynne, is Hawthorne's greatest creation. Publicly discraced and ostracized, she draws on her inner strength and certainty of spirit to emerge as the first true heroine of American fiction. Arnold Bennett called The Scarlet Letter "the one American literary work which comes as near to perfection as is granted a man to bring his achievements."

The Sign of the Beaver

Title: The Sign of the Beaver

Author: Elizabeth George Speare

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Although he faces his responsibility bravely, thirteen-year-old Matt is more than a little apprehensive when his father leaves him alone to guard their newly built cabin in the wilderness. When a renegade white stranger steals his gun, Matt realizes he has no way to shoot game and no way to protect himself. It is only after meeting the resourceful Indian boy Attean that Matt begins to discover new ways to survive in the forest. And in getting to know his friend, Matt also comes to understand the heritage and way of life of the Beaver clan, and their growing problem in adapting to the white man and the changing frontier.

    Elizabeth George Speare's compelling survival story is filled with wonderful detail about living in the wilderness and the relationships that formed between white settlers and Indians in the 1700s. Now with an introduction by Joseph Bruchac. 

Number the Stars

 

Title: Number the Stars

Author: Lois Lowry

Rating: ★★★★☆

Age Category: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis:

    "The whole work is seamless, compelling, and memorable - impossible to put down; difficult to forget." -- Horn Book

    "The gripping story of a ten-year-old Danish girl and her family's courageous efforts to smuggle Jews out of their Nazi-occupated homeland to safety in Sweden. Readers are taken to the very heart of Annemarie's experience, and, through her eyes, come to understand the true meaning of bravery." -- School Library Journal

    "While the novel has an absorbing plot, its real strength lies in its evocation of deep friendship between two girls and of a caring family who makes a profoundly moral choice." -- Booklist

    If you'd like to check out my opinion on this book, you can visit the links below on my blog Rhianna Reads, where I tell my fellow readers what I'm currently reading and what my thoughts are about the book. 

    https://rhiannareadsbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/number-stars-chapters-1-8.html

    https://rhiannareadsbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/number-stars-chapters-9-17.html

The Whisper in the Ruins

Title: The Whisper in the Ruins

Author: Lisa M. Hendey

Rating: ★★★★☆

Age: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Patrick and his twin sister, Katie, are shocked to find someone threw a brick through the stained-glass window of St. Francis of Assisi at St. Anne's. Who would do such a thing? Before they can investigate, Patrick is swept into another adventure-to the town of Assisi, Italy, into the year 1205. There he meets a brave young man determined to leave his family's wealth behind in order to answer God's call in his life. Francis's father is furious, and will do almost anything to stop his son. Will Patrick be able to help Francis, and get back to St. Anne's in time to solve the mystery?

Tree in the Trail

Title: Tree in the Trail

Author: Holling Clancy Holling

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Age Category: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    A cottonwood tree watches the pageant of history on the Santa Fe Trail for over two hundred years.

The Railway Children

Title: The Railway Children

Author: Edith Nesbit 

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in The London Magazine during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the 1970 film version is the best known.

    The story concerns a family who move to "Three Chimneys", a house near the Railway, after the father, who works at the Foreign office, is imprisoned after being falsely accused of spying. 

    

    The children befriend an Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train near their home; he is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited. 

    The family take care of a Russian exile, Mr. Szczepansky, who came to England looking for his family and Jim. The theme of an innocent man being falsely imprisoned for espionage and finally vindicated might have been influenced by the Dreyfus Affair, which was a prominent worldwide news item a few years before the book was written. 

Small Acts of Amazing Courage

Title: Small Acts of Amazing Courage

Author: Gloria Whelan

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 13 - 18+

     Back Cover Synopsis: 

    As an English girl in India in 1918, Rosalind is alone. Ever since the death of Rosalind's brother, Edward, Rosalind's mother hasn't been the same. Her father, away at war, wishes for Rosalind to live in England and get a proper British education. England is "home" to Rosalind, but she has never been there. 

    Rosalind awaits the return of her father from the war, and more and more she ventures out onto the streets. There she learns of a man named Gandhi and hears talk of how India must be free to rule itself. Then late one night she makes a fateful discovery. She knows that she should not be seeking out the beggars who live under the bridge near the river, but she wants to help, even if her parents will never understand.

    National Book Award recipient Gloria Whelan weaves a captivating story of love and family, secrets and sisterhood, and most of all, identity.

A Long Walk to Water

Title: A Long Walk to Water

Author: Linda Sue Park

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 12 - 18+

    Nya goes to the pond to fetch water for her family. She walks eight hours every day. 

    

    Salva walks away from his war-torn village. He is a "lost boy" refugee, destined to cover Africa on foot, searching for his family and safety. 

    Two young people . . . two stories.

    One country: Sudan.

    This mesmerizing dual narrative follows two threads -- one unfolding in 2008 and one in 1985 -- with one hopeful message: that even in a troubled country, determined survivors may find the future they are hoping for.

Johnny Tremain

 

Title: Johnny Tremain

Author: Esther Forbes

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 12 - 18+

    Back Cover Synopsis:

    The year is 1773; the scene is Boston.

    Johnny Tremain is fourteen and apprenticed to a silversmith. He is gifted and clever and lords his talent over the other apprentices - until tragedy strikes. A crucible of molten silver breaks and the silver spills over Johnny's right hand. The hand is so badly burned, it's useless - and now, so is Johnny. 

    Since he is no longer able to become a silversmith, Johnny's life takes a new path, one that will bring him in touch with Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and other Boston patriots and with all the exciting currents that will lead to the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington. Johnny's dream of being a silversmith may be dead, but he has discovered a new dream that will make him a part of American history.