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The Fifth of March

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Fourteen-year-old Rachel Marsh is nanny to John and Abigail Adams’ children and witnesses firsthand how tension builds in the feisty New England town in the two years before it erupts in the Boston Massacre. Friends become foes and families divide as British troops arrive in 1768 to force the outspoken Bostonians to toe the line and obey the British government.

But the idea of liberty and self-government has taken hold, and once considered, can not now be set aside. At the same time, Rachel begins to take stock of her own life and future, and learns that to live life to its fullest and with integrity, one must seek the truth for oneself and take a stand.

Ann Rinaldi, a master at making history come alive, creates a tense and front row seat for the listener as she uses the voice of young Rachel Marsh to underscore that American liberty was not easily won, but at great cost to those who would not let their dreams die.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this historical fiction suited to preteens, the young nanny of John and Abigail Adams witnesses events in Boston leading to American independence. The story weaves the early New Englanders' passion for liberty into a young woman's struggle to find her place in the world and discover herself. Although Melissa Hughes's voice has lovely diction and clear tones, it's not a suitable choice. She maintains a well-bred American enunciation while stumbling through the author's attempts to capture some of the speech characteristics of Boston before the American Revolution. Her versions of British and Irish accents are distracting, and her young children sound silly. Fortunately, the story stands on its own. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 1, 1993
      Historical events aren't as neat and tidy as they appear in history books, nor are they dissimilar from modern happenings (i.e., the Rodney King case), as Rinaldi ( A Break with Charity ) ably demonstrates in this painstakingly researched tale told by a young servant in colonial Boston. Rachel is 14, bound as a nursemaid to the children of John and Abigail Adams, at whose house she sees many of the town's ``movers and shakers'' (one of the book's few faults is its jarringly anachronistic language). When British troops are sent to Boston to keep order, Rachel--despite her increasingly anti-Royalist sentiments--takes pity on Matthew Kilroy, the young sentry posted at the Adamses' door. Their relationship gradually blossoms, but Rachel, who has embarked on an ambitious program to educate herself and who rightly fears ``getting into circumstances,'' refuses to demonstrate her affection in more than verbal terms. Lonely, frustrated, underpaid and reviled by the citizenry he was sent to protect, Matthew explodes during a riot on March 5, 1770, after which he and his fellows are tried for murder and manslaughter in the deaths of five colonialists. How Rachel acts according to her newly awakened social conscience and sense of self-worth makes for engrossing and educational reading. However, readers may object to Rachel's sense of guilt over Matthew's sexual frustration, and to her pronouncements on ``good breeding.'' Ages 10-up.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.7
  • Lexile® Measure:600
  • Interest Level:6-12(MG+)
  • Text Difficulty:6-9

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