PDF Ebook The Secret of the Sealed Room: A Mystery of Young Benjamin Franklin, by Bailey MacDonald
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The Secret of the Sealed Room: A Mystery of Young Benjamin Franklin, by Bailey MacDonald
PDF Ebook The Secret of the Sealed Room: A Mystery of Young Benjamin Franklin, by Bailey MacDonald
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Indentured servant Patience Martin lives a hard life in 1721 Boston, but things get even harder when her demanding employer is found dead—in a bedroom locked from the inside. Powerful townsmen accuse Patience’s friend, Moll Bacon, of being a witch and the murderer, but with her own future in jeopardy, Patience doesn’t know how she can help prove Moll’s innocence—until she finds a new friend. Ben Franklin is a clever young printer’s apprentice with a fondness for wise aphorisms. Ben risks his own skin to protect Patience, and his cunning and ingenuity are a perfect match for her courage and determination. But will their friendship and teamwork be enough to solve the mystery, clear Moll, and free Patience from a harsh life of servitude?
- Sales Rank: #705201 in Books
- Brand: Aladdin
- Published on: 2010-10-05
- Released on: 2010-10-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.25" h x .90" w x 5.50" l, .70 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 224 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—Fourteen-year-old Patience Martin, the orphaned daughter of a sea captain and an escaped slave, lives in 1721 Boston as an indentured servant. Mrs. Worth is a difficult mistress, but Patience is nonetheless shocked when the pregnant woman dies of arsenic poisoning. Running away to escape indenture to Mrs. Worth's brother-in-law, Patience learns that she and midwife Moll Bacon are both murder suspects. Young Benjamin Franklin, as mischievous as Tom Sawyer, agrees to help Patience find the true culprit. MacDonald has crafted an engaging mystery starring one of America's most intriguing historical figures. Readers will appreciate the vivid details of Boston's chill weather, noxious odors, and lively tradesmen as they piece the clues together along with the protagonists. The denouement reveals each twist of the crime and ties up Patience's future nicely. There are a few flaws, however. While the narration allows for an intimate portrayal of colonial Massachusetts, Patience tells her story as an adult, and it isn't clear why she has decided to tell it or what meaning it has in her present life. As such, it seems incomplete. The final words of the book, stating how clever Franklin is, seem artificial given that Patience and Ben solve the mystery in equal parts. That said, they make an enterprising pair in this lively story with a Sherlock Holmesian finale.—Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT
(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
From Booklist
Decidedly impatient Patience Martin is stuck in an unhappy indenture with the Worth family in colonial Boston. After the untimely death of her mistress, she and a wayward midwife fall under suspicion for murder and witchcraft. Fortunately for 14-year-old Patience, she meets a teenage apprentice printer named Ben Franklin who vows to help her after she runs away from her master. This follow-up to MacDonald’s Wicked Will (2009), a mystery starring Shakespeare, offers a stimulating look at young Franklin, a refreshing counterpoint to most textbook accounts of his later years. Franklin’s early aptitude for writing poetry is explored, and his rocky relationship with his brother James foretells his own eventual departure to Philadelphia. Alluding to Franklin’s autobiography, MacDonald creates a series of events that could very well be factual and leaves the reader curious to know more. Replete with historical facts without being blatant, the well-developed plot will keep mystery lovers guessing until the very last chapter. Grades 5-8. --Erin Anderson
About the Author
Bailey MacDonald is a professional actress and playwright who lives near Atlanta, Georgia. When she is not writing, she performs under a different name with a theater group in that city. Bailey has always loved theater, and when she began to write her first historical mystery, it was a natural choice to select Stratford-on-Avon, the home of the great William Shakespeare, as the setting for a tale of trickery, murder, and detective work.
Most helpful customer reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Subtle anti-christian feel & too modern a heroine - A Mom's Review
By Guest Hollow
I got this book to use in our homeschool and was disappointed by a subtle anti-Christian feel throughout. Normally this wouldn't deter us from reading a book, if it has a purpose - but I just didn't feel it was necessary or appropriate in the The Secret of the Sealed Room. Besides that issue, the main character, Patience is a much too modern feeling for the time period - enough to probably appeal to readers but not faithful to the historical period. Although there is a lot of little historical tidbits scattered throughout the text and a mystery to keep readers guessing, the whole thing fell flat for me with very little positive character traits emulated by the main characters and a very strong "girl power" message sprinkled throughout as the adult characters put down females through cutting comments all of the time and of course our "heroine" proves them all wrong. I have nothing at all wrong with a strong, historical female heroine (see my review for Madeleine Takes Command), but Patience was just too 21st century.
The novel starts out with Patience who was sold as an indentured servant at her mother's death. During her indenture, her father dies and she's left in the care of Mrs. Worth. Patience isn't happy with her lot in life - Mrs. Worth isn't very kind, has a complaining, criticizing spirit and is harsh and miserly. Expecting her first child, one evening she has Patience fetch the midwife Moll Bacon. Moll comes and administers some herbs to relieve Mrs. Worth's discomfort. The next morning Mrs. Worth (and her unborn baby) are dead in a vomit filled room and the doctor pronounces the cause of death as poison by arsenic. When Patience finds out that Mr. Richardson, Mrs. Worth's brother-in-law is going to sell her indenture for pennies, she runs away.
The "adventure" and mystery start at that point and it's mainly centered around "who killed Mrs. Worth" and where did her strongbox of money disappear to? The midwife Moll Bacon is accused of poisoning the now dead woman and Patience gets accused of stealing the box of money. Patience gets wrapped up in trying to solve the mystery (and clear her name along with Moll's) with her new, young friend Benjamin Franklin.
I won't spoil it for those of you who want to read it, so I'll stop here with the description of the plot. Instead, I'll focus on the things I personally found irritating.
First: The modern girl plopped down into history issue...
Patience is a very "modern" feeling girl. She chafes against the strong religious views of the time in subtle ways as well as her "station" as a girl and as an indentured servant. There are many references in the book about her being vexed at how girls were looked at or thought about or treated at the time - an opinion I think doesn't really fit in the way it was presented. I've read historical fiction about strong girls that felt real. Patience felt totally contrived with an agenda pushed by the author. So many stereotypes were thrown around by the males in the book. I got really tired of it really fast.
A few quotes: "Well, you're only a girl, and girls love to weep, so-"
Wilkes flapped his hand. "A weak girl could never hope to break into so sturdy a box, my boy...twas foolish of the wench to steal only the box and not the key as well, but there you are! Girls are not very strong, and they certainly are not very bright."
"Do you talk back to me, you saucy young hussy?"
There are other instances like the above. Since I was reading the hardback version (and not the Kindle) I didn't take notes on each and every one, as I usually do when reviewing a book.
Second: The very subtle anti-christian "feel" to the book...
Throughout the book there is a very subtle (and won't be obvious to children) anti-christian feel that is wrapped up in some of the character's portrayals as well as Patience's attitude.
The very first part of the book starts out with, "My name is Patience, but I have little of that with all those in Boston who keep telling me what a bad girl I am. When I learned my letters, the very first sentences I could read proved a harsh and scolding one: In Adam's fall, we sinned all. In church of a Sunday when the parson preaches about the sins and failings of women, I would swear he gazes straight at me with a stern, disapproving look."
A little bit later you are introduced to Mrs. Worth's brother-in-law who is portrayed as a Christian but is nearly evil and certainly very unchristian-like. He is sour and stern and accuses the midwife of witchcraft. Then there is the mention of Cotton Mather who Mrs. Worth think is not "much inferior to an angel" and yet it's clear he was instrumental in the Salem witch trials so he's just another idiot, evil Christian (and yes, I think the Salem trials were a terrible tragedy, but just as some like to point to the Crusaders as evidence for Christianity's stupidity, I believe the author is using Mather to do the same thing). Patience thinks to herself, "It seemed to me that if people like Mr. Richardson had their way, such cruelty would still be going on in Massachusetts." (That's in regard to her reading from Mather's book "The Wonders of the Invisible World" which is about witchcraft.)
Patience mentions how she is reading The Pilgrim's Progress but doesn't like it (but hey, at least it has pictures). Anyone who knows about the Pilgrim's Progress and how influential a (and truly wonderful classic) book it was in Christian households can see the little subtle "dig". I say that only because of the context of the entire book and all the other "little instances" piled together - NOT because she doesn't like a particular book. If it was the only instance I would chalk it up to the character's personal preference. However, taken as a whole, I think it's the author's preference shining through, not Patience's. Hopefully that makes sense.
Another potentially interesting comment that some Christians may take odds with is(interpret it as you will): "Though I do not believe in any kind of magic, I do think we have odd talents that we never or only rarely use. I have a gift of sensing time fairly accurately..." Again, this is just taken in the context of the whole book. There are too many little things like this that pile up and thus gain greater meaning. Another example of that type of thing is a clear stone the midwife leaves on Mrs. Worth's hearth while she tells he she can "watch her through it". The midwife then tells Patience it's not really magic, but hey, if it makes Mrs. Worth feel better there's no harm in the lie. What was the purpose of her pulling a stone out like that in the first place? How did it help the story? If you are a conservative Christian family, you'll probably understand why I mention it.
There are plenty of other examples I could mention. Of course, if you are a secular family, this isn't going to bother you and you can disregard all of the above. However, I wanted to mention it for Christian families who may be trying to decide if a book is appropriate for their family.
Besides all of the above, the characters have to resort to deceit throughout the book. Readers will justify it because of the circumstances, but I didn't like how integrated into the story it was. At one point Patience chides Ben for lying, stating it's a sin, and yet she herself resorts to it on numerous occasions.
At any rate, I really didn't find much to redeem this book for our homeschool. There are plenty of other books that cover similar material with much better/stronger moral lessons interwoven or just plain, good old-fashioned adventure stories. I even liked The Witch of Blackbird Pond despite the "rebellious" and strong female character (with some hypocritical Christians abounding) because it felt so much more authentic and was more balanced and real for the time period. I felt that The Secret of the Sealed Room was too contrived (the convenient friendship with young Franklin) and had too many subtle agendas woven throughout.
However, having said that, for those of you who find the things I mentioned NOT an issue, young readers will probably enjoy the mystery aspect of the story and learn a lot of historical details that are sprinkled throughout the novel about Benjamin Franklin during his indenture to his brother, the Salem Witchcraft trials, books and papers circulating the colonial towns at that time, details about early Boston and so on. It just wasn't a fit for MY family, at all.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too
By TeensReadToo
14-year-old Patience Martin is the daughter of a sea captain and an escaped slave. Living in 1721 Boston, Patience faces four dreary years as an indentured servant to Abedela Worth.
When Mrs. Worth dies, however, Patience takes her chances and makes the mistake of running away.
Soon it is discovered that Mrs. Worth was poisoned, and Patience is suspected of stealing a lot of cash from her. Can she clear her name and solve the mystery behind Mrs. Worth's death?
THE SECRET OF THE SEALED ROOM is an intriguing mystery. The characters are well-developed, and the plot is complex and seemingly historically accurate. Those who like mystery, adventure, and historical fiction will all enjoy reading this book.
Reviewed by: Kira M
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Wonderful Historical Fiction
By K. Musolff
I bought this book for my 9-year old daughter as part of her homeschool history curriculum. She is not particularly interested in the colonial period, yet this book captivated her! The author did an excellent job of creating suspense, while also including actual people and events from the colonial period.
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