Charlotte's Rose [Hardcover]

A.E. Cannon (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

I will carry that baby to Zion,” I shout at them, “just see if I don’t!”

Well! I did it! I have left them all quite speechless.

In 1856, 12-year-old Charlotte and her widowed father are members of a Welsh handcart company on the Mormon Trail, so poor they cannot afford wagons but must push carts from Iowa City to Utah. When a woman in the company dies giving birth, and her husband is too distraught to care for the baby girl, Charlotte grandly offers to care for the baby, whom she names Rose. But taking care of Rose turns out to be much harder than Charlotte expected. She’s stuck; she can’t give Rose back. As she struggles along the trail with the infant, she comes to love Rose, and to dream of life with “her” baby, even though Papa and others remind her that she will have to give Rose back to her father when they part ways at the end of the trail.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Cannon's (Shadow Brothers) strongly sketched pioneer novel, Mormons emigrating from Wales traverse the West with pushcarts, and a bold 12-year-old girl shoulders the additional burden of an infant whose mother has died in childbirth. Narrator Charlotte, a storyteller who dreams of fame, impulsively volunteers for the challenge to impress the grown women when they can't seem to make the baby's grief-stricken father attend to her. Cannon's realistic details do justice to Charlotte's humorous and exhausting experiences with the infant she names Rose, and to Charlotte's vacillating resentment and fierce love for her charge. The author populates the handcart train with a conflict-charged cast, including the imperious Brother and Sister Roberts, the pitiable widow who nurses Rose along with her own daughter, and the enigmatic and scarred Sister Catherine Jones, whom Charlotte initially imagines a witch but ultimately befriends. While offering some insight into Mormon doctrine, Cannon also proposes personal motivations for her Welsh characters' embrace of a new religion. Charlotte herself blossoms through her sacrifice, and her maturation will likely endear her to readers. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-As they travel to Utah, a group of Welsh immigrants are sustained by their Mormon faith and little else. Motherless Charlotte, 12, and her loving father are among the followers. On the ocean, the prairies, and finally into the mountains, the journey is difficult and deadly. When a young woman dies in childbirth, her husband can't face the baby. Thinking of her own mother's death during childbirth, Charlotte offers to take over the care of the infant-except for feeding. It is a demanding task for one so young, and her need for help is obvious. A ghostly white lady haunts the edge of Charlotte's consciousness in a mild evocation of spiritual support, but as food and supplies run short, Charlotte's high spirits gradually adjust to reality. Amid quoting scriptures and singing songs, the protagonist's clear innocence and goodness sometimes leaves the narrative teetering on the edge of saccharine indulgence. However, physical hardships and the emotional toll of being part of an often-misunderstood religious group help bring some balance. Despite a large cast, Cannon manages to distinguish most of her characters. Even though this is valuable as one of a very few books to show readers the Mormon Church from the inside and with sympathy, the focus is on the characters and not on the faith. Based on historical fact, the book offers a genuine headstrong girl in hardscrabble circumstances with a lightness of heart and a strong will to do right.
Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books (September 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385729669
• ISBN-13: 978-0385729666
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,048,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this one with a box of tissue handy!, November 4, 2002

By 

Lu Ann Staheli "allstars" (Spanish Fork, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlotte's Rose (Hardcover)

Ann Cannon brings to the national market the tender story of twelve-year-old Charlotte, a Welsh immigrant who crossed America with a handcart company. Along the Mormon trail, Charlotte volunteers to care for the baby daughter of a woman who has died. At first, she is proud of herself, believing she has shown the adults that she is nearly a woman. But she soon realizes how difficult a task she has undertaken. Charlotte is frustrated by the baby's cries, her own lack of sleep, and not being able to spend the time she would like with John, who she wants to see her as more than a child. Eventually she can stand it no longer and she leaves the baby sleeping beneath the handcart on a rest stop, going on a walk with John instead of taking care of her obligation. When she returns, the baby is gone. Charlotte searches frantically, but finds the infant Charlotte has named Rose being cared for by Catherine Jones, a strange woman with a marked scar on her face. This coming of age novel demonstrates that the feelings that come into the hearts of adolescents remain the same through all generations. Read this one with a box of tissues handy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story Of Courage, October 25, 2002

By 

Peter L. Swiinford (Lafayette, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Charlotte's Rose (Hardcover)

This book describes one of the many Mormon journeys to what they called Zion (now Salt Lake City). Some of these brave folks pushed and pulled 700 pound hand-carts from Iowa City to the Great Basin. The story has a good mix of charactes and illustrates the trials and emotions experienced by these adventurers. I am a gentile (non-Mormon), and I enjoyed the story.

3.0 out of 5 stars Positive Reading for Elementary & Middle School Students, November 10, 2008

By 

Anne "stratfordbooks" (Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charlotte's Rose (Paperback)

A 13-year-old Welsh girl travels with her father and a company of other Mormons from the Old World to Utah. Charlotte journeys from childhood to womanhood as she crosses the continent caring for a newborn baby named Rose, whose mother has died in childbirth. A solid novel with interesting characters and intriguing historical background. In the author's afterward note, she relates how she drew upon the actual experiences of her own ancestors and other Mormon pioneers to develop a realistic story.