Sweet Home Alaska, by Carole Estby Dagg, is an exciting pioneering story, based on actual events, and introduces readers to a fascinating chapter in American history, when FDR set up a New Deal colony in Alaska to give loans and land to families struggling during the Great Depression.
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By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 7/4/2011
Blog: GregLSBlog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: young adult, historical fiction, Carole Estby Dagg, 1890s, Add a tag
THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS, by Carole Estby Dagg (Clarion/HMH 2011)(12+). It's 1896, and seventeen-year-old Clara Estby and her mother Helga need to raise a lot of money fast -- to prevent foreclosure on the family farm. Inspired by the intrepid Nellie Bly, they hatch a scheme to walk across the United States, from Spokane to New York City. If they make it by the seven month deadline, a mysterious benefactor will pay them $10,000 and publish the account of their journey as a book.
En route, the mother-daughter pair encounters hardships and dangers and finds out more than a little bit about themselves and each other.
Based on the true story of the author's great-aunt and great-grandmother, THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS is a satisfying and thoroughly fascinating adventure road-trip. Dagg offers a likeable protagonist and relationships that feel real in their complexity, while compellingly evoking the atmosphere of the era of William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley.
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 5/16/2011
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS, Helga and Clara Estby, Financial Panic of 1893, 8th grade curriculum, social studies, classroom connections, US history, women's suffrage, Carole Estby Dagg, McKinley, Add a tag
I'm excited to share a new feature around here called Classroom Connections. The plan is to highlight new historical fiction that would work beautifully in the classroom. If you are a teacher, home-schooling mama, librarian, or avid reader of historical fiction, welcome!
Book: THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS by Carole Estby Dagg
Setting: America, 1896
Age range: twelve and up -- would work perfectly with an eighth-grade US history course
Please tell us about your book.
One day in May, 1896, Clara Estby and her mother packed satchels with maps, compass, canteens, a pistol and a curling iron. They strode east along the railroad tracks, determined to walk 4,000 miles to New York City by their November 30 deadline to win a $10,000 bet which would save the family’s farm.
Since Helga Estby was a suffragist, they were also out to prove what women alone could do, as they battled blizzard, bandits, flash flood and days without food or water, sometimes walking nearly fifty miles at a stretch.
What inspired you to write this story? 10 Comments on Classroom Connections: THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS by Carole Estby Dagg, last added: 5/17/2011
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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Carole Estby Dagg, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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By: Guest Posts,
on 2/10/2016
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Nancy Paulsen Books, My Writing and Reading Life, Books Set in Alaska, Books Set in Wisconsin, Travel, Ages 9-12, Garth Williams, Chapter Books, Author Interviews, Laura Ingalls Wilder, featured, Books for Girls, Carole Estby Dagg, Katherine Patterson, Kate Morton, Pioneer Books, Add a tag
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Nancy Paulsen Books, My Writing and Reading Life, Books Set in Alaska, Books Set in Wisconsin, Travel, Ages 9-12, Garth Williams, Chapter Books, Author Interviews, Laura Ingalls Wilder, featured, Books for Girls, Carole Estby Dagg, Katherine Patterson, Kate Morton, Pioneer Books, Add a tag
By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 7/4/2011
Blog: GregLSBlog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: young adult, historical fiction, Carole Estby Dagg, 1890s, Add a tag
En route, the mother-daughter pair encounters hardships and dangers and finds out more than a little bit about themselves and each other.
Based on the true story of the author's great-aunt and great-grandmother, THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS is a satisfying and thoroughly fascinating adventure road-trip. Dagg offers a likeable protagonist and relationships that feel real in their complexity, while compellingly evoking the atmosphere of the era of William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley.
0 Comments on THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS as of 1/1/1900
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 5/16/2011
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS, Helga and Clara Estby, Financial Panic of 1893, 8th grade curriculum, social studies, classroom connections, US history, women's suffrage, Carole Estby Dagg, McKinley, Add a tag
Setting: America, 1896
Age range: twelve and up -- would work perfectly with an eighth-grade US history course
Please tell us about your book.
One day in May, 1896, Clara Estby and her mother packed satchels with maps, compass, canteens, a pistol and a curling iron. They strode east along the railroad tracks, determined to walk 4,000 miles to New York City by their November 30 deadline to win a $10,000 bet which would save the family’s farm.
Since Helga Estby was a suffragist, they were also out to prove what women alone could do, as they battled blizzard, bandits, flash flood and days without food or water, sometimes walking nearly fifty miles at a stretch.
What inspired you to write this story? 10 Comments on Classroom Connections: THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS by Carole Estby Dagg, last added: 5/17/2011
By: Molly Blaisdell,
on 11/11/2008
Blog: Seize the Day (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: process, craft, novel writing, potter, Carole Estby Dagg, the Golden Coffee Cup, Add a tag
Today's high five is a prayerful one from famed San Ildefonso Pueblo potter, Maria Montoya Martinez. I added a picture of one her sublime pots.
Once upon a time I thought about becoming a potter. I learned to throw pots on a wheel. I also learned hand-building techniques. I studied for two years. I went to the studio for six hours twice a week. It was enough time to learn how to throw a set dishes in a afternoon. It was messy, back-breaking work, but there was a wild joy in you when you pulled four exactly matching plates, saucers, and cups. Then you hoped, hoped, hoped, hoped, there were no hidden flaws that would break them during the firing. Then there was a glorious moment when your friends sat down to a dinner on dishes you actually made. It's a wonderful feeling. I get a similar feeling when someone says I read your book.
Today, I'd like to see all The Golden Coffee Cuppers opening up to the extensive craft of storytelling either with words or pictures. It takes time, practice, revision, tenacity, and just a lot of elbow grease to create wonderful work. Open up to the journey today.
Maria’s six-step process “…finding and collecting the clay, forming a pot, scraping and sanding the pot to remove surface irregularities, applying the iron-bearing slip and burnishing it to a high sheen with a smooth stone, decorating the pot with another slip, and firing the pot." Susan Peterson, The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez
Last, I thought I add little bits about our Golden Coffee Cuppers. We are in the company of several brilliant writers. Chris and Holly are both in. Now, I'd like to mention Carole Estby Dagg. She has a historical fiction book coming out down the road. It was entitled From Mica Creek to New York City, One Step at a Time. . I'm not sure if that has held, but regardless, watch for her book. I heard a chapter of it a few years ago. Her careful crafting in that chapter was breath-taking. I knew when I heard it, I'd heard something special, something lasting. Kudos to Carole. I hope her new novel is humming!
1 Comments on Day 11 of the Golden Coffee Cup -- Craft, last added: 11/11/2008
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Such a fantastic book! And Carole is awesome. I particularly love the one million words and twenty nine rejections in her story. Great feature, Caroline. xo
I love this new series for your blog Caroline. And Carole, I'm amazed at all the research you did for your book. It's truly amazing. Your book sounds fascinating. And I'm sure it'll help make history more fun.
I just got a facebook message from an old student of mine who is going to start teaching next year. She asked me for book recommendations to include in her reading list. I'm going to point her to your blog! :)
Amy
Carole is amazing, isn't she? And Amy, so glad your student will be teaching and is looking to put together a list of books.
I'm not sure what she'll be teaching, but if you direct her to my website, I've got an assignment I created called Where in the World Are We Reading. It worked perfectly in English, social studies, or general upper elementary classes.
I'd love to share more, if she's interested.
Wow, what an incredible amount of research! I'm sure the book is a testament of how much work went into it! I'll have to read it :)
Wow! Thank you both for taking the time to share!
Thank you, Caroline, for helping TYWWF make its way into the world! To any teachers: I'd be happy to answer questions from your students and (if I can figure out how Skype works) visit them by Skype.
Carole, my pleasure.
Sounds like a fascinating book, especially since it's based on a true story, written by a relative.
It's amazing and mind boggling to think about the extent of research Carole did for this book. That's a story in itself. I'd love to see pictures of all those items she bought. Good luck with the book, Carole. Sounds like a winner to me!
I clicked on Carol's name at the top of your blog post, next to the photo of the book cover. It took me to a page that has info about Carole and also a link to watch the book trailer. Love the trailer! Very cool!