Children's historical fiction, ages 9-12. If you should visit the Edwin Smith Historical Museum at the Athenaeum in Westfield, Massachusetts, you might meet Deborah, a very special doll.
Her story, which she'll share with the other antique dolls every night at midnight, that magical hour when the dolls wake up, began three hundred years ago. Deborah, together with generations of girls who loved her, saw--and sometimes took part in--many scenes from American history in her small New England town.
Deborah can remember the terrible Indian massacre at Deerfield in 1704, and the old Puritan settlement of Westfield where little Mindwell played with her. She remembers Mercy Ann, who was so frightened of the Hessians during the Revolutionary War. She can even tell an exciting story about how Deborah herself, and her little mother Martha, saved some runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad.
Deborah Remembers was based on many real local events and personalities from New England history. Deborah's long, rich, often poignant story, which first delighted young readers in the 1950s and 60s, was created by Westfield historian Lillie V. Albrecht. The tale now returns, with annotations by Mrs. Albrecht's granddaughter, author Susanne Alleyn, to enthrall a whole new generation of readers. Deborah will captivate you and touch your heart.
"A doll's eye view of American history might be the subtitle of this delightful book. . . . Any little girl who ever loved a doll will love Deborah's remembrances." --The Chicago Tribune (1959) "A painless way of surveying American history, this story, with its sentimental portrayal of a rag doll who longs to be hold in the arms of a little mother, will have an immediate appeal to any but the most callous little girl. Well written, with a rich background of New England America in all its graceful simplicity." --Kirkus Reviews (1959)
About the Author: Lillie V. Albrecht (1894-1985), a descendant of seventeenth-century English Puritans, Nantucket Quakers, and Dutch settlers on Long Island, did graduate work in history and English at Syracuse University Library School and taught in a private school in New York State until her marriage. She began working as assistant children's librarian at the Westfield Athenaeum in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1927, and was the first curator of its Edwin Smith Historical Museum, serving from 1928 to 1952. The museum's Colonial Kitchen is now named after her. The Albrechts lived for many years in Westfield, where Mrs. Albrecht became interested in the town's three centuries of history. It was to teach history that she first started writing short stories for children set among the real people and places of western Massachusetts and created the story of fictional antique doll Deborah. The stories she wrote about Deborah's adventures in Westfield's history eventually became the full-length children's book _Deborah Remembers_. Publishers at first turned down a book about a doll's memoirs, but encouraged Mrs. Albrecht to write more historical children's stories. She then wrote _Hannah's Hessian_, which appeared in 1958 and was an immediate success; soon her publisher was eager to publish _Deborah Remembers_, which has since become the best-known of her books. _Deborah_ was followed by three more stories set in Westfield and western Massachusetts in the colonial and Revolutionary eras, _The Grist Mill Secret_, _The Spinning Wheel Secret_, and _Susanna's Candlestick_. Mrs. Albrecht's granddaughter, historical author Susanne Alleyn, is delighted to bring Lillie V. Albrecht's books, with additional annotations and background, to a new generation of young readers. Susanne Alleyn (editor & notes) is the author of _A Far Better Rest_, a retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel _A Tale of Two Cities_; the Aristide Ravel historical mystery series, set in Paris during the French Revolution; the nonfiction _Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders: A Writer's (and Editor's) Guide to Keeping Historical Fiction Free of Common Anachronisms, Errors, and Myths_; and _The Executioner's Heir: A Novel of Eighteenth-Century France_. Visit her or contact her at www.susannealleyn.com .
