Megan's Masquerade

Author: Trisha Magraw
Copyright Date: 1996
Publisher: Magic Attic Press
Number of Pages: 80
Reading Level: Ages 9 & Up
Genre: Fantasy, fiction

Summary

This book is about Megan Ryder and her three best friends, Alison, Heather, and Keisha, but mostly about Megan. At the beginning of the book the girls find out that their class is going to create a time capsule and each student would get to put something special into the capsule. Megan wanted to find something perfect, special, different, and something that represented her and the times into the capsule, but she didn't know what to put. After school she and her three friends were talking about what they were going to put, and everyone else knew except for her. Later that night when her friends are gone, she gets the letter from her dad (her parents are divorced) saying that she'll see him tomorrow and they will get to spend some time together. The next morning, she goes over to Ellie's house, who's an older lady that she and her friends visit often. Ellie has a big house, and a big attic full of many clothes for dress-up and all kinds of fun things. When Megan is in the attic, she finds a pink, orange, red, black, and white ball gown and a mask to go with it. She tries it on, looks in the mirror, and finds herself in a new place. It turns out she's back in time during the revolutionary war, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Little's home. They're having a masquerade ball! There are many soldiers there who are resting from the war, and one of them asks her to dance. Once when she was taking a break, she saw a girl about her age. She found out that her name is Sue Ellen Briggs, daughter of Jeb Briggs who was an aide to Thomas Jefferson. Sue Ellen had a message and handkerchief to deliver to her father, and also another message for Jefferson from General Lafayette. She has to go home to help her mom who just had a baby, so Megan offers to take the things for Sue Ellen and deliver them herself. She finds a soldier who is going to the same place she's going to, and they set out on their journey. It's a tough journey and they were even stopped by soldiers and accused of being traitors, but they finally make it safely and Megan is able to deliver both messages. Once she goes back to her real home, her dad is there and he helps her think about what she's going to put in the time capsule. Her original idea was to put in a diary entry, but she thought it would be boring. Her dad loved the idea, and after thinking about it and realizing that journals are a part of history (like the adventure she experienced and a book written by her great-grandfather about the great depression), she decided that's what she would do. Once she finished her diary entry, she ran down to tell her father what she had decided to put in the capsule.

Reaction

I thought this was a really fun book! I love that she got to "time travel" and experience part of the past. I also loved that at the end of the book, the author included information about the revolutionary war.

Recommendations

I would definitely recommend this to girls around that age, I think they would love it! Boys might like it too, but it's definitely more appealing to girls :)

Problems/Conflicts

There were a few little problems, but not ones that were major parts of the story. Her parents are divorced, and she goes back to a time during the middle of the war so there are guns and soldiers and other things like that. Other than that I didn't see any problems with the book!