Appropriate for children age eight to ten, Elizabeth: Bless This House is part of the Our Canadian Girl historical fiction series. Carter’s book follows Elizabeth, her family, and a group of Connecticut “Planters” or English Protestants who have been invited to settle the formerly Acadian lands at what is today Grande Pre. Elizabeth’s struggle to feel at home in this new land as she sympathizes with the Acadian families held at Fort Edward causes tension between her and her Connecticut friends. Although Elizabeth is well researched, I believe Carter writes the character of Elizabeth as sympathetic to the Acadians in order to reflect contemporary attitudes toward the infamous Great Expulsion of 1755. Elizabeth: Bless This House is educational and easy to read, but it lacks the literary depth of realistic fiction like Danny, The Champion of the World (1978) or What Jamie Saw (1995).

Changes are really hard. This helps you understand those changes and accept them. ( )