Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763

Catherine has always lived a simple life with her Quaker family. But when she and her brother are captured by Indians her whole world is turned upside down. Catherine despises the Indians and is in anguish for her brother who was taken to live with another tribe. She yells at and insults the Indians until she gets dreams of her brother indicating that he lives over the hill. She decided to climb it, but first, she had to cross an icy river. The ice broke, and she was saved by a hunter named Snow Hunter. The next day, Thomas was with her, but he was very sick. Catherine and the old woman nurse him back to health. Catherine and Thomas start to develop close bonds with Snow Hunter and the other Indians. One day the English attack their show more camp. They took Catherine and Thomas back to their original family, not knowing if Snow Hunter and the others are alive or not. This was especially hard for Catherine because she had grown to love Snow Hunter. She felt estranged from her true family, and when her father read her diary, she still was miserable. Eventually, she adapted to her true life but never forgot her experiences with the Lenape. show less

"...The beginning was a little slow and kind of typical coming-of-age tween angst sort of stuff, with the whole "hey there's a boy I used to be very good pals with, but he's been gone a short while and look, now he's the most handsome boy around and I am confused by my feelings for him" angle. But Caty forgets about that guy pretty quickly after she and her brother get captured by the Lenape raiding party, and over the course of her time in the village, she matures quite a lot both emotionally and spiritually.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a preachy, religious-themed book. But Caty's family's Quaker beliefs factor pretty deeply into her perception of her experience, and have a lot to do with her inner turmoil regarding how she finds show more herself thinking and behaving.

One thing I actually really liked about Standing in the Light is that Osborne has written a book which gets the reader thinking more about seeing issues from multiple points of view, no matter how controversial. Of course, the target audience for this series is middle-graders, and I think that's a pretty key age group to try and get across the point that there is more than one side to every story, and that no matter how different someone else may be from you, their way of doing things and their way of looking at the world is equally as valid as your own. There is also a lot to be said about humility and forgiveness, which I feel are good traits to instill in kids at a young age, regardless of your belief system..."

For full review, please visit me at Here Be Bookwyrms on Blogger:
http://herebebookwyrms.blogspot.com/2013/08/standing-in-light.html show less

This was a really cute book that took place in 1763. It is historical fiction so it captures some events that actually happened but this story was made up. However I thought it was a really good book because of all the themes it had in it. The town that Catherine is from had a deal with the Lenape tribe. Someone broke part of that deal so in return, the Lenape kidnapped Catherine and her brother. At first, every fear she had was coming to life. She was scared, and did not know what was going to happen to her. But then she meets a boy and he teaches her that their two worlds are not so different. They both share common aspects such as family and traditions. Catherine soon starts to fall in love with the boy an becomes hopeful of her show more survival. I like that this book teaches a lesson about what happens when you judge another person or their culture. What happens is you turn out to be wrong and you realize that everyone is a person and they want the same things as you. While this book captured a lot of informations facts, it also told a really good story that would be interesting to students. show less

"You preach love while all the time you think you are better than all people." "Standing in the Light The Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan," by Mary Pope Osborne tells the sad diary of a young girl and her brother's experience as a captive of a Native American Tribe. Catherine begins to date her diary entries up until January 7, 1764 when she and her brother Tomas were captured while on their way to school. The children were captured as revenge on the white people after they massacre in Lancaster. Catherine's diary entries remained undated until she was captured back by the White Man on October 20, 1764. By then when she is reunited with her family, the damage had been done. She is unsure where she belongs for her heart lies with show more both her family or her family that captured her. show less

"You preach love while all the time you think you are better than all people." "Standing in the Light The Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan," by Mary Pope Osborne tells the sad diary of a young girl and her brother's experience as a captive of a Native American Tribe. Catherine begins to date her diary entries up until January 7, 1764 when she and her brother Tomas were captured while on their way to school. The children were captured as revenge on the white people after they massacre in Lancaster. Catherine's diary entries remained undated until she was captured back by the White Man on October 20, 1764. By then when she is reunited with her family, the damage had been done. She is unsure where she belongs for her heart lies with show more both her family or her family that captured her. show less

It's 1763 and thirteen year old Quaker Catharine (Caty) Logan tells her story capture by the Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania's Delaware Valley through diary entries. This emotional tale journeys through a young girl's misguided prejudice of Indians and her return to home with an educated perspective of culture differences.
This book is a great tool to get young girls interested in relatable historical fiction.

One of the Dear America books, Standing in the Light is written as the diary of a young Quaker girl in 1763 Pennsylvania. After a few entries setting up her life as a settler in the Delaware valley, she and her brother are captured on the way to school by Lenape Indians. She is inducted into the tribe as a replacement for an Indian girl who was killed by measles and the entries detail her adaption to a new way of life. It's a nice enough book, though Lois Lenski's Indian Captive blows it out of the water as far as quality is concerned. Whereas Indian Captive entranced me, with this book I was always aware that I was reading a dramatization, a collection of true events that happened to a variety of people. Standing in the Light is worth show more checking out, but only as an introduction to this particular aspect of Native-Colonist relations. I think the real historical accounts would be much more interesting.
--J. show less