Lexile = 1110
I would have died on the frontier. It was a tough life. These is my Words is the fictional diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, a settler in the Arizona territory in the late 19th century. Her diary begins abruptly as Sarah, her Mother, Father and siblings are headed west from Texas. In the first TWENTY PAGES we have scalpings, murder, death, disease and general sadness. I almost put it down. But. The cover has a blurb from USA Today that says "Jack and Sarah are as delicious a couple as Rhett and Scarlet." WHAT?!?! I saw NO romance to this point. And so I persisted. The trouble and death and disease and Indian attacks continue, but once I got involved with the characters, this story really took off.
Sarah's story is a first gritty, heart-wrenching, and a grammatical mess. But that is important to the story. As Sarah grows, she is strengthened by her experiences. And as Sarah educates herself at every opportunity, the grammar and story-telling improve. I wonder how our ancestors survived, not only physically but mentally and emotionally. How can one go through so much heart ache and remain resilient and strong? I imagine that is the lesson of These is My Words. I hope my great grand children can read about me with the same sense of admiration I feel for Sarah.
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