Review: Dark Enough to See the Stars by Connie Lapallo

Dark Enough to See the Stars Under a Jamestown Sky
by Connie Lapallo

Reviewed by Janice Campbell- www.EverydayEducation.com

Occasionally, I read a book that makes me want to e-mail all my friends and say, "You've got to read this book!" It's not quite as often that I encounter a book that makes me want to buttonhole complete strangers, saying "You have to read this book!"

Connie Lapallo's debut novel is the second kind of book. I was riveted from the first chapter by the fascinating story of Joan Peirce, Lapallo's 13th great grandmother, one of the few women in early Jamestown who survived the Starving Time. Most of the characters, events, and places in the novel are historically accurate, and Lapallo, a writer and home educator, includes extensive information in the end notes to help the reader sort the fiction from the fact.

Lapallo's meticulous research reveals a time in history when the lives of ordinary women were routinely turned upside down by hurricane, plague, starvation, and other circumstances beyond their control. The character of Joan is warmly and realistically portrayed, and her joys and sorrows captured my heart. As I put down the book, I felt as if I'd walked beside her in the wilderness of primitive Jamestown.

The 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown will be celebrated in 2007. Dark Enough to See the Stars would be a wonderful, family-appropriate book to share in honor of the event. If you plan a trip to Jamestown, I highly recommend that you read the book first and look through the photos and resources at Lapallo's website. When you arrive at Jamestown, and walk through the palisade, explore the ship, and sit in the little church, you just might feel a sense of deja vu as you look over the land that became Joan's home.

Read this book!
It's available from the author at www.connielapallo.com (signed, if you request it), or from Amazon.com.

*You're welcome to reprint this review in its entirety as long as you include the links, and leave a comment telling me where it will appear. Articles are a bit like children-- their 'parents' like to know where they go

Discover It! Vocabulary for SAT Prep

At a homeschool convention this summer, I met Horace G. Danner, Ph.D., Professor of Writing at University of Maryland University College. He is a linguist who has co-written with Roger Noel, Ph.D., two fascinating vocabulary resources.

My boys and I like words. We like to know where they come from, and how they came to be used as they are used in the English language (which, if you haven't noticed, is a very strange language!). Since we have had Discover It! and The English Tree of Roots, we have used them often to look up words that have puzzled us.

Discover It! presents words in 100 clusters. Each word cluster lesson is presented on two pages, beginning with a box containing the entire cluster of words with the common element highlighted. Romance cognates, words with disguised roots, relevant Latin phrases, and more are introduced, and the student is provided with interesting and memorable examples of the words in context, plus Wordextras- unique facts or constructions. There are writing tips and quotes sprinkled throughout, and periodic quizzes (with answers in the appendix). This is a unique and useful resource for vocabulary building!

The English Tree of Roots is a dictionary of English roots.http://beta.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif For example, if you wish to look up the origin of the word "letter," you find that it comes from "liter," and is related to literal, literate, and over 30 variations including uncommon words such as antiliterate, heteroliteral, obliteration, and more. Seeing words in their clusters or family groups is a terrific way to expand vocabulary!

Dr. Danner is also author of an autobiography, Out of the Cotton Fields. This inspiring story tells how reading and education helped him transcend his childhood in an alchoholic Alabama sharecropping family. He donates profits from the sale of this book to an award fund for high school students to help boost exam scores for college entrance.

For more information, visit Occoquan Books.

How to Start a Home Business - Fast!

If you want to start an internet-based home business, and you have three days you can spare to learn from the people who are really doing it, I recommend this seminar.

Even if you can't come, and are not sure you want an internet-based business, I recommend that you or your teen sign up for the free preview calls. You'll learn an amazing amount there, and may be inspired to begin. That said, let me announce....

A Very Special Event!

It's bigger and better than ever... THE BigSeminar #8 Atlanta 2006! I first heard about this seminar last year, but couldn't go. I registered for the free preview training calls anyway, and learned an incredible amount of valuable information. One brief tidbit of advice I heard on one of the free training calls has earned me nearly $500 in the last few months!

Each time I've implemented something I've learned from the Big Seminar calls, my business has increased. For me, that was the evidence I needed in order to know that attending the Big Seminar was something I would be wise to do.

I consider it an investment, because I will be able to come home and share with my boys all the terrific things I've learned. So my investment of time and resources will be shared by my entire family, and, like all I've learned throughout our homeschool years, will have the power to touch our lives for many years to come.

This seminar has changed the lives of thousands of people from all over the world --- now is your chance.

I plan to be among the select group of 400 people who will be personally trained by the world's top marketing minds.... and I hope you will plan to join me. Do hurry, though, as only a limited number of seats are left.

Click on this link: BigSeminar Business Training Event

Plus... Armand Morin is giving away $20,000 in cash and prizes at the seminar. This is amazing. Get your share!

Click HERE to read more about it, and to get on the list for the free preview training calls. Remember, the free calls alone will teach you an incredible amount about starting and growing a business. Even though there is a good bit of talk about the Big Seminar itself (which is actually rather helpful in making your decision), the calls contain a lot of solid information you can apply as soon as you get off the phone. They're worth every minute!

I hope to see you in Atlanta on October 27, 28, and 29!

Janice Campbell

P.S. If you decide to come, please e-mail me, and let me know. That way, I can look forward to meeting you there!

P.P.S. If you have any questions about the Big Seminar, please feel free to e-mail me. I haven't been yet, but I've listened to the training calls for three separate Big Seminars over the past couple of years, and I've heard from many people who attended and were thrilled with what they learned. If I can't answer your questions, I can probably direct you to a person who can!

Ceremony of Innocence

The recent shooting at the Amish school in Nickle Creek is such a sad event. It made me think of William Butler Yeats' poem, "The Second Coming."

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?


Although the Amish community cares for its own, there are ways to reach out and show compassion, both to the Amish victims and to the family that the shooter left behind.

These two funds are available for the Amish families:

The Nickel Mines Children's Fund
c/o Coatesville Savings Bank
Paradise, PA 17562


The Nickel Mines School Victims Fund
c/o HomeTowne Heritage Bank
P.O. Box 337
Strasburg, PA 17579

The next fund is for the family of the shooter. I'm certain that their distress and need must be immense.

Roberts Family Fund
Coatesville Savings Bank
1082 Georgetown Rd.
Paradise, PA 17562

And finally, the Mennonite Disaster Service and Mennonite Central Committee also provide emotional, physical, and financial support to those in need. You may visit their website at http://www.mcc.org/news/news/2006/2006-10-03_support.html.

I will continue to pray that the families affected by this tragedy be comforted by the peace that passes understanding.