Just Loved Reading:
Audacity Jones to the Rescue
Middle Grade/Historical Fiction
Larson, Kirby, Audacity Jones to the Rescue. New York: Scholastic Press, 2016.
Set at the turn of the 20th century, Audacity Jones to the Rescue is about a spunky, inquisitive, smart 11 year-old orphan. When her parents died at sea, went to live at Miss Maisie’s School for Wayward Girls in Swayze, Indiana. She was 6. Audacity is the one the other girls depend on for guidance and support. She is also the one who is sent to the Punishment Room daily. She looks forward to the Punishment Room because it is the library and Audacity loves to read. Her favorite books are novels about swashbucklers, pirates and other adventure heroes but she also loves books about science and geography.
When Commodore Critchfield comes to the school to visit and ask for a volunteer for a secret mission, Audacity jumps at the chance. The Commodore was once well-to-do donor who is (secretly) down on his luck. Audacity slowly comes to learn about the Commodores’ nefarious scheme and with help from her friends, plots to stop him and his accomplices.
WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:
Audacity is a lovable character whose positive attitude propels the story. She doesn’t feel sorry for herself and boosts the morale of the other girls in the orphanage. She makes friends easily. Audacity looks at life as an adventure – an attitude that takes her to Washington DC, inside the White House, and almost gets her into trouble. The reader will root for her as she finds a way to thwart the Commodore’s evil plan (based on true events). The author does a good job of invoking the culture, fashion and other customs of the era and throughout the novel, the reader will feel that they are living in the first half of the last century.
Audacity Jones lived during the presidency of William Howard Taft. Click on the link below learn more about him and his presidency:
https://www.facebook.com/williamtaftnps/
https://www.biography.com/people/william-howard-taft-9501184?_escaped_fragment_=
https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/william_taft_nhs.html
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