Customer Reviews

Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Living in Pennsylvania's Delaware Valley in 1763, thirteen-year-old Catharine "Caty" Logan's biggest concern is getting one of the boys at school, Jess Owen, to notice her without becoming vain - a sin for Quakers like Caty and her family. But after a group of settlers massacre the inhabitants of a peaceful Indian village, Caty is terrified that the Indians will retaliate by attacking settlers. Her worst fears come true when she and her little brother Thomas are capture by a band of Lenape Indians and taken to their camp. Even though Caty is adopted into an Indian family and treated with kindness, she rebels against her captors every chance she has. It takes the love of a young warrior, Snow Hunter, once a captive like Caty, but who chose to remain with the Indians, for Caty to understand that the Indians are people just like herself, and she finds a sense of belonging. The story was told in the form of Caty's diary. Mary Pope Osborne did a wonderful job of bringing the language, customs, and events of the 1760s to life.

Standing in the Light was a wonderful Dear America book, and one I could read over and over.

It tells, in diary form, about 13 year old Caty Logan who is growing up in her Quaker village in the 1760's. She is perfectly happy, with boys, learning housewifery, and schoolwork to keep her busy - but that all changes one day when she and her younger brother are captured by Lenape Indians.

At first Caty is desperate: she hates living with the rough Indians, who watch her diary writing curiously and force her to follow their Indian ways. But later, she learns that they are good people, though different than the Quakers, and she begins to make friends - and loved ones.

This was a great book! You really care about what will happen, if Caty will stay with them or return to her village. It was sad, but I love it!

I'd recommend this for ages 10 - 14, and I'd recommend some other captive stories: Trouble's Daughter, I Am Regina, Indian Captive, and Calico Captive.

I am a college student at home on summer break, and because my mother is a teacher, we have a variety of children's books sitting around the house. I just spent an enjoyable afternoon reading through Mary Pope Osborne's Standing in the Light.

Though the book is targeted at 4th - 7th grades, it is well-written enough to appeal to older readers. I found several passages of the book to be particularly poetic, and the simple, clear writing, while making the book easy to read, was quite elegant in its brevity. Many adult writers could learn from Osborne's style.

The story was certainly compelling enough, if a bit slow at the beginning. Perhaps because I'm an older reader and was able to zip through the book fairly quickly, I didn't find the rest of it to drag at all, and I became increasingly absorbed in the story.

While this book is very good (I give it three stars not because I think it is deficient, but because I'm very sparing with four and five star ratings), I would like to mention that conservative Christian parents might want to be aware that the underlying worldview of this book is very inclusivist, with the implication that all religions are equally valid. Religious tolerance is certainly a good lesson, and it is an important theme of this book. At the same time, Osborne's angle on it seems to me to be an affirmation of the equality of all religions. While I think we can agree about the equality of all people, clearly, most people who actually believe in a religion consider it unique. That said, I certainly wouldn't say that parents shouldn't allow children to read this book; it could possibly be a good springboard for discussion on both tolerance and the uniqueness of Christianity.

(The above comments, of course, were directed solely toward Christian parents who might want to be aware of such things, and were not meant as an absolute criticism on the book. Please don't be offended if Osborne's view is the same as yours. I'm not in the habit of disliking books just because the point of view disagrees with mine, but I write simply because I know parents like to know such things.)

I also have to mention another thing that slightly annoyed me throughout the book, which was the incorrect use of "thee" and the absence of the word "thou." Now, perhaps I should look this up to confirm it, but I do not believe that the Quakers used "thee" as a nominative pronoun. The characters in this book, however, say things such as "Thee is" and even "Thee are." The problem, here, of course, is that the subject of a sentence should be "thou," not "thee," and also that "thee" is a singular pronoun, not a plural. Also, the correct verb with "thou" is "art," not "is." Sometimes, also, Osborne uses the "thou" verb conjugation (adding an "st" at the end of the verb) with a third-person subject, such as "God dost," which is also completely incorrect. Now, if the Quakers actually spoke with incorrect archaic English, then I am certainly incorrect in my criticism. However, the constant misuse of the pronouns in the dialogue did continually grate on my nerves.

These long criticisms aside, however, Standing in the Light is a well-written book.

The book called Standing in the Light by Mary Pope Osborne is a very good book. It is written in diary form. The story takes place in Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania in 1763. The main characters are Catharine Logan and her little brother, Thomas Logan. In Standing in the Light, Catharine realizes that she likes a guy who she's known for a long time. Later she finds out that there are Indiansnear where she lives that have beencapturing and killing people. One day when she and her brother were walking to school they get captured by Indians. They separated Catharine from Thomas. In Catharine's camp she meetsan Indian boy named Wine-lo-wich, which means Snow Hunter,who was also captured by Indians when he was young. Catharine laterrealizes that she loves Snow Hunter. Soon after that Snow Hunter disappearsafter he goes on a hunting trip. If you want to find out what happened to Snow Hunter and if Catharine and Thomas ever get home, you'll have to read Standing in the Light by Mary Pope Osborne. I thought that it was a wonderful book.

I read the book "STANDING IN THE LIGHT." by Mary Pope Osborne. I liked this book very much. I found this book very informational about how it was to be a captive and brought into a native American tribe. I also thought it was a great romance book for 10-12 year olds. I have read many other books of the "Dear America" series and found them informatoinal but down to earth also. They were not as romantic as "Standing in the Light, but they were still good.

After reading this book, Standing in the Light, the first word that comes to mind is "wow" The book was so good that I actually read it in under an 2 hours. There is so much to learn about so many different things in this book. I love how the writer tells the morals of the stories through words and actions instead of saying "well today, I did this and that." The book is almost like a rollercoaster. At first I kept reading to see if Catherine would be able to talk to Jess Owen. Then a couple of days later she was abducted by Indians. At first she resented them more and more, but then she grew to love them more everyday even though she was in fear that the Quakers would turn her out if they found out how she felt about them. Then the book leaves the reader on the edge of his or her seat even more when she falls on love with one of them and wants to spend the rest of her life there. But one of the things that I love most is that she changes so quickly from a headstrong school girl to an adult, and even though she is scared that she will be turned out by her father, she keeps writing in the diary for him. If you read the book then you won't regret it. And if you really read it carefully, then it will make you think about things you never thought about before or maybe if you have thought about them it will make you think about them in a different way then you did before. It''s definitely a five star book

I love reading books in diary form and the "Dear America" series of books for younger readers are not only beautifully bound, but each individual story is truly engaging, transporting readers into a bygone era with its entailing adventures.

The heroines are typically young girls who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances - and having to display immense courage in trying times. "Standing in the Light" is the diary of Catharine Carey Logan, a Quaker who lived in the Delaware Valley in Pennsylvania c 1763. Her diary is an account of her experiences growing up in the valley and also about her capture by the Lenape Indians. It is a sad yet very engrossing read.

Another highlight of the book is the author's historical note on life in America during the time [1763] - there are also illustrations and drawings of Quakers and Lenape Indians engaged in their respective pursuits, and highlights the cultural differences between the two groups. In conclusion - an engaging historical read!

When I first saw this book, I thought it sounded rather dull and lame. When I finally got around to checking it out from the library and read it, I was surprised. This is an excellent story, perhaps one of the best Dear America stories that I've read.

The story begins with Caty, a Quaker girl fearing the Indians, and seeing them only as the "bad guys." She and her brother are kidnapped on the way home from school, and she fears for her life at first when she is placed with two Indian women. She eventually lightens up to them, enjoys their company, and falls in love with a young man who was also kidnapped many years past.

She is eventually rescued, and is forced to return against her will to her old life. She goes back to her old life finding everything has changed. People look at her differently, her mother barely ever says a word to her, and her younger siblings are terrified of her. A very good book, and an excellent read.

This book was really awesome because it was like you were in the book facing the problems she faced and the feelings she felt. Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down at all! It really is an amazing book though it is said it really was great! I recommned this book to people who love to read biographies. I hope people would like it as much as I did!

I just finished reading this great book. It is about a girl who's family is a Quaker family. One day she and her brother are walking to school when they get captured by indians. Catherine and her brother Thomas get separated for a while. I won't tell you any more because I don't want to spoil the book. It is a great book. I really recomend it.

Enjoy!