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Blood Secret

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The minute she had opened the trunk, she knew there wasn't anything like hope in it. Just awful musty things, but each one with a kind of terrible dark halo around it. She picked up that piece of old lace. She saw that stain — pale, brownish in color. She knew it was blood. Somebody's blood. There was violence in that trunk, and dark secrets, and she did not want to know them.

Curious about the old homestead where she now lives, Jerry finds an ancient trunk in the basement that contains, among other things, an old piece of bloodstained lace, some letters, and a battered doll. The objects in the trunk have stories to tell — stories about the Spanish Inquisition spanning nearly five hundred years and stories of secrets locked deep in the bloodlines of Jerry's ancestors.

Kathryn Lasky's powerhouse novel is a dramatic historical saga that brings the reader face-to-face with some of the worst atrocities ever committed against humankind in the name of God. But above all, it is an unforgettable coming-of-age story about a girl who, in connecting with her own past and faith, is at last able to face her own demons and liberate not only herself but also future generations of her family from the long chain of suffering and silence.

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    • School Library Journal

      August 1, 2004
      Gr 7 Up-Since her mother disappeared from a campground several years before, 14-year-old Jerry has lived in various Catholic Charities homes. The trauma of her experiences has left her with selective mutism. Although she wants to speak, she just can't get the words that form in her throat to come out. Now, she is going to live in New Mexico with her great-great-aunt, Constanza de Luna. After settling in and beginning school, Jerry discovers an old trunk in her aunt's basement. The mysterious objects within it seem to call to her, and each time she handles one of them, she is catapulted into her family's past. Brief vignettes describe the experiences of several of her ancestors, beginning with Miriam, a Jewish girl living in Seville in 1391 who witnesses the murder of her people and is baptized by force. Jerry, who has been raised Catholic, comes to realize that her ancestors were Jews, and she is upset by their heart-wrenching tales of religious persecution. Meanwhile, through her aunt's gentle manner and the understanding and acceptance of a new friend, the protagonist gradually becomes more and more socially engaged and begins to speak again. The story of Jerry's ancestors is skillfully interwoven with that of her present life. With each glimpse into her past, she is drawn more into her own family circle with her aunt. A well-told and satisfying story.-Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK

      Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      October 1, 2004
      Gr. 6-10. Jerry Luna has not spoken since her mother disappeared when she was eight years old. Now a high-school freshman, she has left a Catholic Charities Home to live in Albuquerque with her soulful, 94-year-old great-aunt Constanza. Jerry's heart and voice begin to reawaken when she discovers an heirloom-filled trunk in Constanza's basement. With unexplained magic, the trunk "curves time back," unveiling the stories of Jerry's ancestors, beginning with Jews who suffered through the Spanish Inquisition. Although the ancestors' first-person narratives are abruptly inserted into Jerry's tale, the stories themselves tell revealing, harrowing accounts of Jewish life during the Inquisition, and later in North America. The esoteric time lapses that lead into the ancestors' stories are vague and contrived, as are some of the complicated connections between generations. Even so, Lasky's quiet, layered novel introduces history, particularly from a Jewish perspective, that's rarely covered in books for youth while asking sophisticated questions about faith, the legacy of persecution, the power of silence, and the deep mysteries of what's passed between generations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2005
      Jerry, an elective mute since her mothers disappearance years earlier, moves in with an elderly aunt. Items in an old trunk allow Jerry to travel into the past and discover her familys sad history. As she regains her voice, she learns about her ancestors, Spanish Jews living under the Inquisition. This disturbing, at times graphic novel, tells an engaging story--part fantasy, part historical fiction.

      (Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
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Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.2
  • Interest Level:6-12(MG+)
  • Text Difficulty:4

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