BH4SCHOOLS RECOMMENDS #2

I was delighted to have received an email a few weeks ago from a children's author, Frances Somers Cocks, who had come across bh4schools whilst surfing the net. Frances was kind enough to send me copies of two of her books; Abraham Hannibal and the Raiders of the Sands and Abraham Hannibal and the Battle for the Throne. They are wonderfully written and tell the true story of a young Ethiopian boy who is taken into slavery and after a series of events ends up in the court of Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar. His great-grandson was to become the famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. For some unknown reason I started with the second book, and it was a great read. The author is adept at making a complex emotional situation accessible for younger readers - the capture and enslavement of Abraham Hannibal and the loss of his younger sister is conveyed very poignantly and dealt with very effectively. The sense of adventure is captured in what is a remarkable true story. The concluding chapters as Abraham becomes embrolied in the Russian - Swedish campaigns of the Thirty Years War, are gripping. I look forward to half term so Ican read the first book.

#Posted 15 October 2006 at 11:47 AM

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