Review: I love it when History Comes to Life. Don't you?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2013
This is book ONE in Ms. Penny Estelle's Wickware Saga Series. Miss Wickware is a rather ingenious, and I think WITCHY history teacher in a middle school somewhere in Arizona. She has devised a method to give some of her students first hand contact with history...one way or another.Billy Cooper...his dreams. Why are his dreams suddenly plagued by the character from somewhere in the distant past...William Tell...and why are they becoming...almost too real?I am so awed by Penny Estelle. As a former teacher I know one of the hardest parts of teaching is finding the key that will engage students and make them CARE about learning...History is one of the toughest. Why, students lament, should they care what a bunch of dummies did in the past? It's not going to effect how they face today nor will it change how the people in power face the future. It's just too boring!Penny Estelle's writing takes the boring and makes it a modern day suspense, relevant because it could be Susie Smith or Jason Jones catapulting back in time, LIVING history.The detail Ms. Estelle puts into her books is exceptional. I learned things about William Tell my journeys into history had not taught me. I wish I'd had Ms. Estelle's books at my fingertips when I was still teaching. She would have held a prominent place in the lessons I'd have planned.Well Done, Penny Estelle. Where will you take us in the future?