A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick

Going against what society sees as normal is difficult. Doing that as an African American woman in the mid 1840's was nearly impossible. But in A Light in the Wilderness, Jane Kirkpatrick tells the remarkable tale of a woman who did just that.

Based on the the actual events of the life of Letitia Carson, Kirkpatrick weaves a fantastic tale of a journey of a woman from slave to an independent land holder in the Oregon territory. Letitia was granted her freedom when her master died. She starts to earn money and soon buys a cow. She become quite the business woman selling milk and butter and soon finds herself in the company of Davey Carson, an Irish immigrant. Eventually, he asks her to come west with him to Oregon. While they fight to make it through the treacherous journey and start a life for themselves in the unclaimed lands of the west, Letitia is constantly trying to prove her worth to those around her and to herself. Can she be the one to break the stereotypes and set changes in course that will not only change her life, but the entire destiny of others like herself?

This is by far the best book I have read in a long time. Great story, great characters based on actually events. I loved reading about Letitia and her life and the impact it had on history. I am so glad that her story has been found and is now being told. I highly recommend this book.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Comments

He's Rolling!

Gideon has master rolling this week and sometimes, he is not too happy about it... He can go from his back to his belly all on his own. And if you lay him on his belly propped up on his elbows, he will roll over to his back.
He started rolling in his crib at nap time, so that means no more swaddling. Which also means we have to relearn sleeping through the night. He has done two nights swaddle free, which have gone okay. He stirs a few more times during the night, but I only got up once to actually feed him so he will settle back to sleep. So, not too bad and hopefully we get back on track quickly.

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I don't fully understand how this happens, but Gideon already loves the tractor. If he is in the kitchen or the living room and he hears the sound of the tractor, he crawls to the closest window and has a look outside. When he sees it, he often starts drumming on the window sill, so excited. He repeats a little "T" sound, like he is trying to say tractor. He hasn't actually gone for a ride in the tractor, yet. But I think he will be pretty excited to that some day soon.

Storybook Character Day 2016

Today was Storybook Character Day at Joash's school. I tried to make it easy on myself and encouraged Joash to use one of the costumes we have on hand. So, he picked the chef costume and took the book Sam the Chef. Notice anything about his face? I didn't have time to take a picture before school and we got a call right around lunch time that Joash had a pretty bad fall on the asphalt at school during recess. He was pretty shook up about, so I went to pick him up early today. He seems pretty much his normal self now, so we are not too worried. And of course, school pictures are on the 31st, so we will have to see how well he has healed by then.

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