Longbow Girl by Linda Davies - OPTIONAL

Davies, Linda Longbow Girl, 336 pages.  Chicken House (Scholastic), 2016.  $18.  

Language: PG (11 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.

Merry Owen’s ancestor was granted a piece of land and a small title when he used his longbow and saved a king in the 1300’s.  In return, the family was given the charge that they must always have a longbow ready to defend the crown if ever asked.  Merry was her father’s only offspring for many years and has taken her responsibility to learn the craft very seriously.  Even after she lost an eye in a longbow accident, she has continued to train.  Her best friend is James de Courcy, her next-door neighbor, who lives with his parents in the Black Castle, but their friendship is secret from his family, because the de Courcys have long hated the Owen’s for taking their land all of those decades ago.  Now the Owen’s farm is in peril because of some bad luck and some malice.  When Merry finds an ancient book and reads about a treasure, she follows the clues and finds herself back in time – to another place when the Owens legacy was in danger because there was no longbow man free to answer the king’s call.  But perhaps a longbow girl would do?

Davies writes a compelling piece of time travel/historical fiction.  I will be buying this and handselling it to some of my best readers.  I keep hoping that this kind of history will take off. 

MS – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher