Books we’re reading and books I’ve recently read:

A Murder for Her Majesty
by Beth Hilgartner. Middle-grade novel about an 11-year-old girl hiding
from her father’s murderers. She witnessed the crime and has reason to
believe the killers were acting on orders from Queen Elizabeth.
Half-dead from hunger and cold after making her way from London to
York, young Alice Tuckfield encounters a group of amiable choirboys
(most of them are amiable, at least) who take her in and convince her
to hide out in the boys’ choir, as a lark. I thoroughly enjoyed this
suspenseful tale, which I read before giving it to Jane so that we
could have the fun of discussing it. I think Scott is next in line.
He’ll like the setting: much of the action occurs in and around the
York cathedral choir.

The King’s Fifth by Scott O’Dell. Next
on my list of read-before-Jane-gets-hold-of-it. She has so much more
reading time than I do that if I give it to her first, she’ll be miles
away from it before I ever turn a page. Also, I bought it, so ha-HA, I
get first dibs. This is another compelling and fascinating read. A
young Spanish cartographer sits in a prison in New Spain, awaiting
trial for failing to give the King of Spain his share—one fifth,
following the precedent set by Cortes—of the treasure he is believed to
have discovered in the Seven Lost Cities of Cibola. The young man, only
seventeen years old, relives his adventures on the trail with Coronado
and his army in search of the fabled cities where the streets are paved
with gold. I’m only halfway through and am completely captivated. Very
suspenseful, vividly detailed. The kind of historical fiction I love: a
"respectfully imagined" (to borrow Gail Godwin’s phrase) rendering of
real historical figures and events.

Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark.
Will I ever get into this book? This is my third attempt at reading it
aloud to children. First attempt was years ago, when only Jane was old
enough to listen. After three slow chapters, I gave up on the "aloud"
part and just handed it to her to finish. And she loved it. Last year,
I tried again, this time with Rose. Stymied once more by those opening
chapters. And yet, glutton for punishment optimist
that I am, I’m giving it a third go-round, this time to Rose and
Beanie. (Rose never finished reading it last year.) You see, I’ve put a
lot of faith in Jane’s enthusiastic recommendation. Any minute now,
it’s going to pick up steam. It won the Newbery in 1952, for Pete’s
sake!

For now, at least it has generated a lot of discussion about the
Incas, the Spanish conquistadors (happy coincidence!), and llamas. The
main character is a young Indian boy, Cusi, who lives in an isolated
mountain valley with his elderly guardian, Chuto, and a herd of llamas.
There have been all sorts of hints in these quiet opening chapters
about Cusi’s heritage (which he knows nothing about) and Chuto’s
occasional mysterious journeys away from Hidden Valley with some of the
llamas—journeys from which he always returns alone. Cusi wears golden
earplugs, which a wandering minstrel recognizes as a sign of royalty.
And now Chuto is going to take Cusi on a journey out of the valley for
the first time. There’s a brooding sense of "the time has come" in the
air…you see why I don’t want to give up on it? There is rich story
potential here—if the characters will just get past the
preparing-to-travel stage (and the singing to the llamas, oh my
heavens, enough already with the the interminable singing to the
llamas!) and get on with the actual traveling. Not that I’m impatient
or anything.

Some books just don’t lend themselves well to reading aloud. I’ll
give this one two more chapters before I decide, for once and for all,
that this is one of them.