Five Smooth Stones : Hope's Diary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1776

Hope's Revolutionary War Diary #1

by Kristiana Gregory

Kristiana Gregory's first My America , book one of Hope's Diary, details life in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.

As tensions rise between the Tories and Patriots, Hope's life in Philadelphia becomes more confusing. Will Papa ever return from his voyage? Has he been killed, or worse become a Tory? When Hope's thirteen-year-old brother Ethan proclaims that he too is a Tory, it seems that the family is falling apart. Hope ends her diary sure that Papa and Ethan will return.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, American Revolutionary War, Historical, American Revolution

112 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Kristiana Gregory grew up in Manhattan Beach, California, two blocks from the ocean. She's always loved to make up stories [ask her family!], telling her younger siblings whoppers that would leave them wide-eyed and shivering. Her first rejection letter at age ten was for a poem she wrote in class when she was supposed to be doing a math assignment. She's had a myriad of odd jobs: telephone operator, lifeguard, camp counselor, reporter, book reviewer & columnist for the LA Times, and finally author.

Her award-winning books include STALKED, which earned the 2012 Gold Medal for Young Adult Mystery from Literary Classics and is hailed as "historical fiction with a thrilling twist." KIRKUS calls it "an atmospheric confection that will thrill YA readers ... Gregory achieves a realistic, rich atmosphere with insightful details about the immigration process and New York tenements in the early 1900s." Now available on Kindle and in paperback.

JENNY OF THE TETONS [Harcourt] won the Golden Kite Award in 1989 and was the first of two-dozen historical novels for middle grade readers. Several of Kristiana's titles are now available on Kindle including "Curiously Odd Stories: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2" with the celebrated 'Paper Monument', a futuristic book-banning with horrific consequences.

BRONTE'S BOOK CLUB [Holiday House] is set in a town by the sea and is inspired by the girls' book club Kristiana led for several years.

Her most recent title with Scholastic's Dear America series is CANNONS AT DAWN, a sequel to the best-selling THE WINTER OF RED SNOW, which was made into a movie for the HBO Family Channel.

New re-releases in ebooks and paperback on Amazon:
**PRAIRIE RIVER SERIES #1-4
**ORPHAN RUNAWAYS: THE PERILOUS ESCAPE TO BODIE
**CABIN CREEK MYSTERIES #7: THE PHANTOM OF HIDDEN HORSE RANCH
**THE WAITING LIGHT: CLEMENTINE'S STORY -- originally titled "My Darlin' Clementine" [Holiday House] this riveting historical mystery takes place in an Idaho mining camp of 1866, and was Idaho's representative for the 2010 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Library of Congress.

Kristiana and her husband have two adult sons, and live in Idaho with their two golden retrievers. In her spare time she loves to swim, walk, hike, read, and hang out with friends. She's trying to learn to knit, but isn't yet having much success.

Check out Kristiana's blogs at http://notesfromthesunroom.blogspot.com/ for behind-the-scenes stories about her books, and with photos from her childhood.

Reviews

[Molly]

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

[Oak Lawn Public Library - Youth Services]

Title: Five Smooth Stones: Hope’s Diary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1776 (My America series)
Author: Kristiana Gregory
Lexile Level: 640L
Pages: 112p

Recommendations & Comments: Five Smooth Stones relates a year’s worth of diary entries by Hope Potter, a nine-year-old girl in a patriot family living in Philadelphia. Hope’s parents are bakers, and she both she and her thirteen-year-old brother Ethan go to school and help with the baking and chores at home. When Hope’s diary begins, their father has been away for several months on a mission for the patriots, and the family is worried about what might have happened to him as the months pass without word. Has he been injured or taken captive? Has he gone over to the Loyalist side and abandoned them? The Potters’ difficulties continue to mount as their neighbor is killed by an accident with rebel ammunition, their bakery business struggles without their father’s labor, and they hear growing rumors of a British invasion.

Hope is a plucky and likable character, and the story moves forward at a brisk pace. The author’s attempts to write in an archaic style of English sometimes come across as stiff, but overall Hope’s voice is a relatable one. An author’s note provides additional information about the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia, and the historical figures that served as inspiration for some of the book’s characters.

Three out of five stars

Reviewed By: Mary Donovan

[Stacy]

This is a really quick, simple read. It's a cute diary about what life was like in this time period, but if you're looking for something related to the Revolutionary war, there isn't too much there. There's some anticipation of what is happening throughout the book, but the Declaration isn't made until the last maybe quarter of the book. If you want a good idea, at an entry level, of what life was like for a girl of this time period, then this will do quite well for you. I'd recommend this for struggling readers and younger grades and there aren't too many books on this topic for struggling readers. I'm interested to see if there is another diary of this same girl as the copy I have says book one. Perhaps there is more to the story...

[Jenny Clark]

Better than the other My America I have read so far, but still less than Dear America in my opinion. This has a lot to do with nostalgia, as I grew up before this particular part of Dear America came out, so when it did, I was 13 or so, too old for these. I do enjoy going back and reading these now, but would have liked them more as a younger kid. Again, great for elementary kids, to get them into a particular time period, and nice and short, but since there are three, you get to see a lot of stuff. One thing I do like, is the fact that this one shows what came right before the war, unlike Winter Of Red Snow.

[Marie]

Five Smooth Stones was my atmospheric read for a trip to Philadelphia and it was so enjoyable. It is a young reader book, so it's not super deep, but I did like my time with main character Hope in 1770s Philadelphia. It is so tempting to share the meaning of the five smooth stones... but it's a reveal within the book and would spoil it! Hope is a young person in 1776 Philadelphia, balancing typical coming of age things like friendships and boys while also seeking to understand the birth of a nation. The book is told in diary entries, so you really get Hope's point of view. I recommend!

[Rachel]

Fictional story of a 9 year old girl living in Philadelphia in 1776. Her family takes in a boarder who is a delegate to the convention that wrote the Declaration. Her family flees the war. Great info and personalization of characters. There is much made of the July 4 date without clarity about when the document was actually signed and distributed.

[Abigail Werner]

My America books are a little easier to read and are shorter than the Dear America books. These two series are the same except for the reading age difference. Throughout this book, Hope, like so many children living during the year 1776, learns about the world around her and the consequences of different actions.

[Nicole]

I know that these books are not written for me (and I read them for sheer nostalgia since these kinds of books got me into history when I was a kid), but I would have found this one a tad boring even as a kid.

[Caite 🌷]

One of the most influential books of my childhood, Five Smooth Stones helped give me a dear love for history, especially American Revolutionary history. I still have my copy, in pristine condition, up on my bookshelf as a grown woman. Hope will always be a friend.

[Jennifer Hunt]

Gregory is one of the best authors out there for MG historical fiction. Loved this sweet story and can’t wait to read the others in the series. Appreciate the Christian values woven throughout. Perfect for my 8 year old

[Jenifer Dale]

A good book that shows the difficulties of our country when we were trying to obtain our freedom. Hope is a likable character and I honestly felt pulled into the story and felt like crying at a few different areas. I truly felt for the family.

[Susan Stonesifer]

An interesting parallel with Finishing Becca by Ann Rinaldi

[Lorena Sanchez]

Great book! I absolutely loved it!!

[Melanie]

Good, educational book.😁

[Misty Fry]

I love to read these kinds of books! This one was especially good because I love reading about wars!

[Nancy]

Picked this book because of the author, and it was as good as I hoped.

[Meghan]

Similar in tone to Gregory’s book The Winter of Red Snow.

[Tam Newell]

Read with a small group of girls. They loved it! I thought there were too many plot gaps and unanswered questions.

[Jamie Moore]

My daughter loves these books and begged me to read them after her so we could talk about them!

[Hannah]

can i really say it’s predictable if i’m an adult reading this? anyway not as enticing and then the audacity to leave us on a cliffhanger

[KMak]

I loved it!! Definitely recommend!!!

[Brittany]

These books always are a fun time and an informative look at a period of our history.

[Julia]

Good book. Something’s in the book didn’t make much sense but it was a good book

[Eden Ott]

👍🏻

[Cindy]

Lots of “had rot be there “ info.

[Gemma]

I was a little disappointed at the ending,I mean,she never even finds her father.

[Harlyn Rengel]

COOOOOOOLL

(I’m being sarcastic!)

[Savannah]

This book gave me a headache trying to read this. All the words are all like Methinks, art, thou, etc. This is book is based of a true story. This book is from a girl named Hope Penny Potter. The book take part in the war against King George.

[Rebecca]

It's the winter of 1776 in Philadelphia, and as the Revolutionary War begins, it threatens to tear nine-year-old Hope Potter's family apart. It's been just Hope, her mother, and her thirteen-year-old brother Ethan ever since Christmas Day, when Hope's father was forced to leave home under circumstances the family still doesn't understand. But in spite of her worry for her father's safety and her increasingly fragmented family life, complicated by arguments between her mother and brother over which side in the war is the right one, Hope is forced to continue with her daily routine of school and chores, with only the comfort of her best friend and her mother to ease the pain the war is causing. But in addition to the sadness, there is also excitement and joy, with the celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of Hope's baby sister Faith. This book (like the other My America books) is told through Hope's journal entries, which use old-fashioned language and an innocent, childlike view of the world to sound as if they were truly written by a young colonial girl. I highly reccomend this book to young girls who enjoy historical stories.

[James Crawford]

This is the story of Hope, a young girl living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1776 just prior to the Declaration of Independence. As such, it's an interesting story of some of the conditions people lived under at the time, and how not every single person was in agreement over whether or not the colonies should declare their separation from England. This was the type of controversy that could tear families apart just as the Civil War did much later.

One very interesting thing in the book was a section about the Quakers, a religious group, and how they could "read out" a person, that is, kick them out of the group. If that happened, then friends and family were not allowed to talk to them and no one was allowed to shop at their store (if they owned a store.) So if you wanted to be different you could find yourself kicked out of your family and religion, both.

As always there is a historical section but, as with at least one other My American book, there is no epilogue to the story.