The writing was also really good. You could identify each character by their dialogue, and they all had their own little way of speaking. Johnny had a firm, set way of speaking, taking up the leader role, Miz Melindy had a rather heavy accent and specific words she used, Rawdon sounded sinister the entire time, and Caroline was a little more unsure, and when she was sure, she wasn't calm.
The pacing was pretty good, too. It was crazy that the whole book took place over only twelve days, because it seemed a lot longer, and the book rarely skipped over periods of time, but when it did, it made sense to condense the days into a couple paragraphs, and you didn't miss much information. It was a lot better than the timeskipping in other books I've read.
In conclusion, a really good book. The plot was great, with quite a few plot twists something you don't see that often in historical fiction! A fabulous historical fiction book that you should really read if you like the genre, or if you've lost all hope in the genre, then this book will restore your hope.
May 08, Gale rated it liked it. The situation at the Whitaker plantation is painful: the father in a local prison, with threats of being sold in the Bahamas; the young scion of the family off fighting with guerilla patriots; the mother and two daughters virtually kept prisoners in their own home by a pompous British officer who has taken over the place as his headquarters under distant Lord Cornwallis. These red-coated invaders think they can Take or Do whatever they want; no mere Colonial can prevent theft and other war atrocities.
Fourteen-year-old Caroline comes of age that summer, starting on the day she watches her dear friend, Kit, be hanged for foolishly attacking the British--who let his body rot for 3 weeks as a message. Realizing that she is carrying around the ghosts of several people dear to her inside her head, Caroline aches for peace and simple freedom of movement.
But this spunky girl, who always squabbles with her vain older sister, discovers shocking truths about her own origins--that she is the light-skinned granddaugther of a tough old "trick negra" in the slave quartes.
Why would her mother permit the brat of a slave woman to be raised as her own? What hateful deal was made 12 years ago to keep peace on the plantation?
But could the entire truth prove a dangerous thing if proclaimed? Acclaimed for her well-researched novels of historical fiction, Rinaldi has recreated the spirit of frustration and defiance by Southern patriots in the latter stages of the American Revolution. Many incidents in the story were documented, although her characters are her own creation.
Such curious cases as Caroline's double heritage were possible. The protagonist must draw strength and resilience from both her contriubuting races, in order to honor the three people of her true family.
Forced to make terrible adult decisions Caroline must choose between one race or the other; between her own folks or horseflesh. This book reads quickly, with its extensive dialogue and swift plotting--captivating readers and holding our interest.
We agonize with Caroline as she counts up the images huddled shamefully within her heart, while we admire her sauciness and persistence in defying Col. Rawdon, the popinjay whom Miz Melindy loves to hate. Will Caroline ever comes to terms with her her treacherous sister? More importantly, how can she prove loyal to--and worthy of--her own dual heritage?
This is great reading for teens and adults. January I welcome dialogue with teachers. Many died. The British Because here you have it: the Inside Story. Her home is occupied by the British. With her black grandma, Miz Melindy, she sets out on a dangerous journey to fetch her wounded soldier brother from the swamps. Although a journey to go fetch her brother might not seem dangerous, it is. In swampy places, malarial fever could be caught easily. Many people died from it. Even though Miz Melindy had cures for it in her burlap bag, the risk still remained.
There was also the danger that British troops would bump into them. Then Caroline would be in trouble. They would question her, and probably force her to go back home. And there were the rebels too.
They would come charging out of some hiding spot. But the greatest danger of all was definitely encountering the British troops. The book even starts with a hanging. He let bodies swing, for weeks and weeks and weeks. As well being exciting Cast Two Shadows also felt real. This book affected me way too much. The girls had wardrobes of dresses and Colonel Rawdon had the most showy uniforms.
You should especially do so if you think that the War of Independence is b-o-r-i-n-g. Because you will be hypnotized by this Inside Story. If you'd like to see more youth reviewed books, go to my blog, bookshelfexplorer. Aug 10, Hannah rated it really liked it Shelves: childhood-pleasures.
Another fantastic Rinaldi read. It starts off immediately with a very rough passage that really sets an immediately serious, emotional tone for the rest of the book. I had never realized that the Revolutionary War in the South was more like a civil war in that neighbors used the war as an excuse to exact revenge or loot and pillage rivals, adopting whatever side was convenient for them, and Rinaldi really brought that to light in a very vivid way.
I also never cease to admire how she finds so ma Another fantastic Rinaldi read. I also never cease to admire how she finds so many interesting historical tidbits and brings them up for consideration, as in the case of Agnes, General Cornwallis' lover who is presumably abandoned by him and wanders city to city in the South trying to find him until she succumbs to disease.
That, Kit's death, and selling slaves to whom they promised freedom to the West Indies were certainly a good way to highlight British cruelty underneath all their proclivity for culture and civilized accouterments. That theme of having two natures or two sides extended not only to the characters' questioning where their loyalties lie, but also to the main character being biracial and struggling with the reality that her family had buried her parentage and half of her true family for so long.
Along with that, Johnny having a Catawba lover was interesting in that it brought to light that racial mixing did happen in the South in those times, but was really taboo and rarely talked about. Even aside from these sorts of identity issues, the book has a lot of interesting family loyalty conflicts; so many things are going on at so many levels, and I loved the idea of the characters having 'people hanging inside them.
Jan 28, Catherine rated it it was ok Shelves: work , gender , history , us-slavery , loss , One of the few things Rinaldi's Cast Two Shadows does very well is communicate a sense of the chaos of wartime occupation.
Beyond the protagonist's confinement to one room of her former plantation house, there's the sense that the very landscape of South Carolina has been changed by the presence of the British. Nothing seems safe; there are soldiers everywhere, unpredictable and dangerous; families are torn apart; no one knows quite whom to trust. That kind of confusion is hard to get across to One of the few things Rinaldi's Cast Two Shadows does very well is communicate a sense of the chaos of wartime occupation.
That kind of confusion is hard to get across to readers, and Rinaldi does an excellent job. Yet the book is not a satisfying read. The issues of race that are central to the protagonist's identity are handled clumsily: Rinaldi is ostensibly writing about a mixed-race protagonist, but in fact writes about a white girl who sometimes spares race a thought.
And there's a deep problematic in expecting readers to side with a 14 year-old white girl over everyone else. I was struck by this most forcefully when Caroline has to make a choice between telling a British officer where her brother's horse is, or letting her black, enslaved uncle be whipped times. It was nauseating. Or there's the moment where Caroline wonders how on earth the slaves on her plantation can sing; she feels beyond song, and the contrast that's suggested is that her life is much harder in that moment than theirs.
I wanted to like this very much - goodness knows we need more historical stories about young women who can take action rather than simply being passive while others make decisions. But ultimately I was left disappointed. Dec 28, Rebecca Radnor rated it really liked it Shelves: historical-fiction-ya , slavery , america , revolutionary-war.
Revolutionary war in south Carolina told from the viewpoint of girl whose home the top British generals have taken-over as their base. Normally with a Rinaldi book the story will evolve around clear historical teachable events that were central to the war being discussed, this is not the case here. Instead, the focus is on how in the south, unlike in Massachusetts, families were often split down the middle in their loyalties. The main character's father is in jail for being a patriot, her mother Revolutionary war in south Carolina told from the viewpoint of girl whose home the top British generals have taken-over as their base.
The main character's father is in jail for being a patriot, her mother is a loyalist, etc. Rinaldi's focus seems to be how British cruelty and political incompetence drove many individuals who had started the war as royalists into so hating the British that they changed sides. The split is also between being white or being black. In this book Rinaldi returns to the topic she discussed so well in her title, 'Wolf by the Ears,' and in the less complex book, 'Numbering all the bones,' the complex issue of how households with slaves managed their mixed race children.
In this household, unlike in her other books, the girl is treated as the natural child of her white parents, and the whole family maintains a lie to the rest of the world about her race. HOW this happens is complex, and while the girl has always known that her father was her father and her mother had been a slave, there is intrigue in how her white parents managed events, and how the girl learns for the first time about their particulars and then has to learn to accept them.
It might compliment Mel Gibson's 'The Patriot' but otherwise its not particularly useful Oct 25, Luckngrace rated it it was amazing Shelves: historical-fiction.
I've read several of Ann Rinaldi's YA historical novels. I always love them and learn from them. This one featured a young white-skinned black girl being raised as white by her white plantation master father, his wife and family. The American Revolution is beginning and the members of her family are ambivalent about which side to support. They begin as Tories, but are faced with "popinjay" Redcoat attrocities and must make hard choices.
The British occupiers are arrogant and treat patriots much as Southerners treated their slaves. As punishment, they often sold patriot prisoners to the Caribbean as slaves. I never knew this happened to white settlers. They burned homes, stole or killed farm animals and definitely never worried about "winning the hearts and minds of the people" as we would say today.
People who previously loved the motherland often switched sides as they saw their innocent friends hung in the public square and their bodies left displayed for days or weeks accprding to old English practices. I've been reading a lot of Civil War history lately and it struck as strange that these American Southerners of the 's could adopt the white negro daughter and treat her as their own.
It makes me wonder if whites were more kind to slaves then and later degenerated, or if Miss Rinaldi used poetic license to create this kinder fiction for young people. Sep 12, Caitlin rated it really liked it Shelves: 7th-grade-shelf. This book was full thoughts and feelings. It really makes you think about what you have and to be grateful for all you have.
Caroline has lost basically everything in her life. Her sister turned against her family, she had to burn down her own house, her father was in jail and their country was in the middle of a war. She just kept losing all these things in her life but she still stayed strong to protect her family and help her country.
Ann Rinaldi also teaches us that you should fight for wh This book was full thoughts and feelings. Ann Rinaldi also teaches us that you should fight for what you believe in. Even though Caroline had a general take over her house her sister turn against her family to agree with the general, she still fought for what she believed.
She risked her life many times to fight for her family and country. She tricked the general into letting her find her brother who was hurt and brought him back to help her. Never did she give into the bribes the general gave her if she turned to him. She fought and fought and fought and in the end it turns out she won, she didn't give in, she didn't give up and it paid off.
I definitely recommend this book to people. It will really force you to think about yourself and dig deeper into learning what it felt like to be in that time period. The story opens to Caroline, her sister Georgia Ann, and her "mother" confined to a room upstairs, because a British officer has taken over the downstairs.
Caroline receives word that her brother, Johnny is deserting from the British army. The officer living downstairs doesn't know that; he thinks that Johnny was injured fighting.
So, he gives permission for Caroline and her slave grandmother to go and bring him home. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil it. I didn't like Georgia Ann; but who would? She was very mean and cared more for the "popinjay" as the slaves called the officer than for her own family.
Johnny was a good character, too. And I was happy that there was no horrid mother, and no dedicated servant that left them anyways. That gets a bit old. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Still, I liked that she had spirit! Guts, as you might say. I loved it! Dec 05, Tracy rated it it was amazing.
There's good history in here. In "Cast Two Shadows" we get a Southerner's perspective. Here the Revolutionary War is more than politics and talk between men, but a bitter war betwe There's good history in here. There is also the tricky and unpleasant business between Southern landowners and their slaves mixed into the plot.
Caroline, the story's protagonist, is the product of relations between her father, the master of the plantation, and Cecie, a slave. Cecie herself is the daughter of a slave and the plantation's white overseer. Caroline has been raised with her father in the "big house" and as the story progresses must come to terms with the complicated truth of her family.
Good story here and brings up some complex historical concepts. Feb 23, Gill rated it really liked it Shelves: other-places , georgia , other-times. Well, not strictly Georgia, the Carolinas, but 'in the region'. I read this as part of my reading to understand a bit about the area where my son and family are living.
I've read modern Georgian authors, and Ferrol Sams about the turn of the 20th century, Gone with the wind about the civil war, so I guess this one is my earliest historical foray in the Americas. But for a dip into the journal of someone who lived through the American War of Independance, this one was the nearest I have got to Well, not strictly Georgia, the Carolinas, but 'in the region'. But for a dip into the journal of someone who lived through the American War of Independance, this one was the nearest I have got to the truth of the times.
The author did not avoid the unsavory truths of what happens in war, and how families are torn apart and suspicion makes people act out of character. There were issues brought to light which are often sidestepped or avoided in dealing with history and national sensitivities and I found it a good read, and informative. Someone has mentioned enjoying the author's note and I am glad she informed us of how closely she stuck to the historical truth, and her attempt to portray the events through the eyes of one young girl approaching womanhood, growing up fast and dealing with the world as it was and as it is.
Jan 15, Sarah Crawford rated it really liked it. Caroline is the main character of the book. Her father has been put in prison by the British. Page Count: Publisher: Harcourt. No Comments Yet. More by Ann Rinaldi. Show all comments. More by John Boyne. More About This Book. Pub Date: Aug. Page Count: Publisher: McElderry. More In The Series. More by Cassandra Clare. Previous Next. My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Cold Sassy Tree. Romeo And Juliet. Just In Case. Where The Heart is.
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