Champlain and the Silent One

CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE
By Kate Messner
North Country Books, 2008

Category: Middle Grade Historical Fiction

What happens when a head cold keeps you home from school and your mother has a deadline to meet? You get put to work, that’s what…

It’s not all bad. First the dear boy with the head cold was given a chance to thumb through my To Read pile. At the top was my crispy new copy of Kate Messner’s CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE; he got to be the first Burns to read it. But then he couldn’t stop talking about it. Seriously, he was at my elbow talking about Iroquois and Innu tribes and alliances and battles and, well, I wasn’t getting much done. So I heard him out one last time, and then I set him to work. Here’s the fan letter he wrote to Kate:

Dear Mrs. Messner,
Your book Champlain and the Silent One is awesome! My mom got it in the mail yesterday and let me read it. (I finished it this morning.) I liked how it always had more action or drama on the next page! You do a good job of keeping the story lively and fun instead of droning on and on.

Hope you keep writing,

You heard it here first. Kate Messner never drones on and on … and her new book is awesome!