Betsy Zane, The Rose of Fort Henry [Hardcover]

Lynda Durrant (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Thirteen-year-old Betsy Zane is bored with her privileged life in Philadelphia, bored with her great-aunt’s stories about the old days, and bored with trying to be a lady. She longs to rejoin her brothers at the family homestead along the Ohio River, where she can finally be free to enjoy the unspoiled countryside that she has missed ever since she was forced to leave it as a child.

When her great-aunt dies, Betsy has the opportunity to return to her frontier home. She frees the house slaves, bundles up the few belongings she can carry, and sets off to find safe passage to the homestead she has dreamed about for so long. At Zane Station she finds much excitement—and some tough choices. Her new life forces her to think more deeply about slavery, loyalty, and family. Betsy begins a romance with a dashing young soldier, and takes part in the greatest adventure of her life, a heroic run for gunpowder—a historical event—that saves Fort Henry in what proved to be the final battle of the Revolutionary War.

Based on the true story of Betsy Zane, this exciting account of a real-life heroine’s adventures on the western frontier is rich with vivid and carefully researched historical detail. Author’s note, bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-A compelling work of period fiction strongly rooted in fact. During Revolutionary War-era America, 12-year-old Betsy Zane lives with an elderly aunt in Philadelphia. Sent there by her brothers to protect her from her war-torn native Virginia, Betsy finds Philadelphia unbearably filthy and generally unsatisfactory. When her aunt dies suddenly, the girl finds herself all alone with few options, but nevertheless musters the pluck and composure to arrange her aunt's funeral, dispose of her family's wealth, and assemble a travel party to escort her back to Virginia. The journey is eye-opening and exciting, and Betsy is thrilled to be reunited with her long-lost family. Once there, the excitement builds even further to a thrilling climax in which Betsy saves the day by completing a successful run for gunpowder, sustaining Fort Henry through the final battle of the war. Exhaustively researched, Durrant's story successfully brings the remarkable Zane family members to life. Unfortunately, she has trouble letting their exploits speak for themselves, and instead takes unnecessary pains to ensure that their remarkable qualities don't go unnoticed. She needn't have bothered; the Zanes' admirable reserves of grit and resilience are impossible to ignore. Young readers may have to remind themselves that the brave protagonist really was a mere child who risked her life in a bloody battle rather than surrender.-Catherine T. Quattlebaum, DeKalb County Public Library, Atlanta, GA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. At the end of our Revolutionary War, a young woman wages a private war for her own independence in this vivid, adventure-packed eye-opener by the author of Echohawk (1996) and Turtle Clan Journey (1999). Although Betsy has spent the six years since her parents' deaths in Philadelphia, she still aches to rejoin her five brothers in western Virginia. As soon as her Great Aunt Elizabeth dies, she snatches up a few possessions, makes her way along the buffalo trail to Pittsburgh, and takes a flatboat down the Ohio to Zane Station, near Fort Henry. Her "unladylike" behavior and sudden arrival in a war zone initially prompt a hostile reception from her brothers, but she shows her mettle during the ensuing siege of Fort Henry (the Revolution's final battle, as it turns out) by bringing in a load of gunpowder under the enemies' very rifles. As Durrant explains in a lengthy afterword, nearly all of her plot and cast have been drawn from historical records. She has delved deeply into the complex, shifting relations between European settlers and native populations, and she depicts a wide range of attitudes among the Zane family members. As Betsy battles ingrained prejudices against women and indigenous peoples, she learns to see her own family's slaves in a new light, especially after traveling with a close-mouthed white family, the Crofters, who turn out to be fugitive slaves escaped from the mines in Scotland. Written as a first-person, present-tense narrative, this takes readers at a gallop from Philadelphia's fetid streets to the deep woods along the Ohio, pausing for steady looks at contemporary attitudes and tracking a strong-willed citizen of our young country through more than one trial by fire. Source list. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books (September 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395978998
• ISBN-13: 978-0395978993
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,924,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of a real girl who saved a fort in 1782., August 27, 2000

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Betsy Zane, The Rose of Fort Henry (Hardcover)

As she did in her previous book, The Beaded Moccasins, Lynda Durrant tells the exciting story of a real 18th century girl. This time her heroine is Elizabeth "Betsy" Zane, whose courageous actions saved an American fort during the final battle of the Revolution in 1782. Thirteen-year-old Betsy has lived in Philadelphia ever since her parents died six years ago, and she longs to return to her Virginia frontier home. She gets the chance when her only relative in Philadelphia, her great aunt, dies. Betsy packs a few possessions and returns to her childhood home. But everything is different. One of her brothers lives among the Indians. Her oldest brother has strict ideas about how a young lady should behave. At times, life seems almost as boring as it did back in Philadelphia! A romance with a young soldier livens things up. But when the Indians and British come to attack, Betsy and her family must flee to nearby Fort Henry. And it will be Betsy's own heroic actions that change the tide of battle. I highly reccomend this to historical fiction fans, particuarly girls. It's a great read for fans of the Dear America series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book well worth reading., March 30, 2001

By 

Maryam (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betsy Zane, The Rose of Fort Henry (Hardcover)

This books shows how independent Betsy Zane was. If you are a Dear America fan then you will like this book a lot. It's mostly the same as the diaries only not in diary form. Betsy Zane was a young woman who moved from a city onto the Ohio River. She meets new people and her brothers prize their possessions at first more than Betsy herself who took the long journey to her homestead with a family who used to be slaves. Betsy has embarrasing moments on the way to the Zane homestead when she accidently brings up the subject of slaves to the former slaves! Betsy also gets to meet a boy named Johnny whom she likes. The author really put effort in this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting and historical!!!, October 11, 2003

By 

brooke "brooke" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betsy Zane, The Rose of Fort Henry (Paperback)

This was a really great book. Not one of my favorites, but still really good! Betsy is restless in her vast Philadelphia home with proper great-aunt Elizabeth. So, when the latter dies, Betsy goes to live with her brothers on the wild Ohio River at Zane Station. There, she finds history of her past, ordeals of family and friends, and of course, love, as in every good book!!(ha ha) Anyway, the British and Indians are trying to capture Fort Henry, and so the Fort villagers have to fight them, and Betsy plays a special part in it! The book was great! read it!