Will's Story: 1771 (Colonial Williamsburg(R)) [Hardcover]

Joan Lowery Nixon (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Colonial Williamsburg(R)

Twelve-year-old Will Pelham's father is the Williamsburg gaoler. Will is afraid of some of the prisoners, but he sympathizes with Emmanuel, a runaway slave. Then Will begins to suspect that Emmanuel is planning to escape. Will wants to help his friend, but he has a responsibility to his father, too. What should he do?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Will Pelham, a real person in history, lives with his family in housing attached to the public gaol, where his father is the gaoler. The 12-year-old helps out by feeding the prisoners. He finds the family's circumstances unsettling, especially his nightly walk down a dark passageway past the prisoners' cells to his own room. Will's sense of fear is heightened when one prisoner rambles about the ghost of Blackbeard. Later, he becomes suspicious that the family's slave, Toby, may be plotting to help a runaway slave held in the gaol escape to freedom. Will is an especially well-drawn character, with his fears, thoughts, and doubts portrayed convincingly. Nixon also does a nice job of depicting a boy caught in that confusing time of life between wanting to be a grown-up and clinging to comfortable childhood roles. The period details are smoothly intertwined into the plot, with the protagonist even encountering George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Thirty pages of concluding notes and black-and-white photos include information about Williamsburg then and now and childhood and crime and punishment in 18th-century America. The only flaw may be that the plot is a little too slow in moving toward the action, with most of the prisoners' cases concluding in an epilogue and author's note at the end of the story. However, historical fiction fans will be intrigued by Will's unique experiences.

Kristen Oravec, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Strongsville, OH

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Will dislikes living and working at the public gaol (jail) in Williamsburg, where his father is employed. Not only is the boy sometimes frightened as he walks past the cell doors at night, he has a growing suspicion that someone intends to help a jailed runaway slave escape before his master comes to claim him. As the date for General Court approaches, tensions rise among the prisoners and those who care for them. Nixon does a good job of weaving information about colonial Virginia's institutions, customs, and attitudes into an involving narrative. Appended to the story are an author's note and lengthy sections on Williamsburg, childhood in eighteenth-century Virginia, and crime and punishment during the period, as well as a recipe for baked apples. An intriguing addition to the Young Americans Colonial Williamsburg series. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 162 pages
• Publisher: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (April 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385326823
• ISBN-13: 978-0385326827
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Books for Kids, June 3, 2011

By 

Gordy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Will's Story, 1771 (Hardcover)

I Purchased the six books in this series for my granddaughter. We had seen these books in Williamsburg while on vacation there, and were impressed at the time. Now that she is old enough or at least close to being old enough we thought she would enjoy them. I read al six and thought they were well done and would be fun for her to read as well as being instructive as to how people lived in the 18th century.
Each of the books deals with a child and their family, how they dealt with some of the problems, politics and their general living conditions. The individuals all had different backgrounds from being a slave to a working class family, to a wealthy politiical involved family, and somewhere in between. Therefore by reading all of the books in the series you can get a feel for the entire community.
They are definitely written for children but as I said I think they will be interesting for most children.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic., January 22, 2007

By 

Gordon Bleufelt (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will's Story: 1771 (Colonial Williamsburg(R)) (Hardcover)

Simply put, this is Nixon at her best. And when at her best, she stands among the greats in modern literature. Joan Lowery Nixon's pen is mightier and more lethal than anyone else's pen. She is a master, and Will's Story is her masterpiece.

The story here is Will's, the jailer's son. (Interestingly jail was spelled gaol in colonial America.) Nixon leads us along as Will grows into a mature and capable young man in colonial Williamsburg, VA. His story is every bit as engaging as Huckleberry Finn, but without the problematic ending. While Twain's text may have been more seminal, Nixon's novel is more involved. Painstaking research and perfectly executed prose form Will's Story. It is, without a doubt, the best in Nixon's Young Americans series. It is, without a doubt, the best in Nixon's entire ouvre. It is, without a doubt, the best novel about colonial America in existance. It is...fantastic.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best in the series., July 11, 2003

By 

MAB (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will's Story: 1771 (Colonial Williamsburg(R)) (Hardcover)

"Will's Story 1771" was not the best addition to the Young Americans series. With the previous books, there were adventure, turmoil, and bigger conflicts. Will's problems seemed small, and he wasn't a strong character. I still give credit for making his life come alive again through this series. I "sorta" recommend.