Maggie's Dare: The Great Awakening (1744)

Sisters in Time #3

by Norma Jean Lutz

Time   1744  Slavery confuses Maggie Baldwin. It's 1744, and the tenderhearted twelve-year-old can't understand why her friend was given a young female slave as a Christmas present-or why her friend mistreats the miserable Caribbean girl. When a major spiritual revival breaks out, Maggie is convinced she must dare to help the slave. Using actual historical events to tell a compelling fictional story, Maggie's Dare explores both the Great Awakening and the early stirrings of the abolition movement, while showing young readers that they, too, can serve God by serving others. Sisters in Time books offer learning and fun, at a great price!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Historical

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Norma Jean Lutz’s writing career began when she enrolled in a writing correspondence course. Since then, she has had over 250 short stories and articles published in both secular and Christian publications. The full-time writer is also the author of over 50 published books under her own name and many ghostwritten books. Her books have been favorably reviewed in Affair de Coeur, Coffee Time Romance, Romance Reader at Heart, and The Romance Studio magazines, and her short fiction has garnered a number of first prizes in local writing contests.

Norma Jean is the founder of the Professionalism In Writing School, which was held annually in Tulsa for fourteen years. This writers' conference, which closed its doors in 1996, gave many writers their start in the publishing world.

A gifted teacher, Norma Jean has taught a variety of writing courses at local colleges and community schools, and is a frequent speaker at writers' seminars around the country. For eight years, she taught on staff for the Institute of Children's Literature. She has served as artist-in-residence at grade schools, and for two years taught a staff development workshop for language arts teachers in schools in Northeastern Oklahoma.

As co-host for the Tulsa KNYD Road Show, she shared the microphone with Kim Spence to present the Road Show Book Club, a feature presented by the station for more than a year. She has also appeared in numerous interviews on KDOR-TV.

Norma Jean has brought out past out-of-print novels to create a new series. These teen novels (which she likes to call "Clean Teen Reads") were published in the 1980s and 90s, yet the story lines are timeless. Sporting new titles and new book covers, these books will become part of the "Norma Jean Lutz Classic Collection" series.

Her newest teen offering is Brought to You By the Color Drab. A story of a young man living in the ghetto who seemingly was born in the wrong place in the wrong time. This is a story of redemption!

Reviews

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls) · Rating 3 out of 5]

About this book:

“Maggie Baldwin just doesn’t understand.
Why did her friend receive a young female slave as a Christmas present? And why does Maggie’s friend so mistreat the miserable girl?
When the spiritual revival known as the Great Awakening comes to Boston, Maggie’s tender heart is stirred—and she knows she must dare to help the slave, so far from her home in the West Indies. In her act of compassion, Maggie learns that we best serve God by serving others.”


Series: Book #3 in “Sisters in Time” series. Review of Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- Church going; Talks about God & sin; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; All about many mentions of churches, church going, services, hymns, revivalists, preachers/reverends, & sermons (and those against them, Maggie’s friends also mock them); Mentions of God & being witnessed to; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Scriptures & reading them; Mentions of Christians & being told you are not one; Mentions of sinners & sins; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed;
*Note: A couple mentions of those against the revivalists calling them evil & that they di lazy preaching.


Negative Content- Mentions of slavery & slaves (Maggie finds it cruel, but her friends think it’s the best for the people as they are from poor countries and many people own slaves; *Spoiler* Maggie’s friend gets a young girl as her slave and near the end of the book, Melee, the young girl, dies after being sick *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of throwing up & illnesses; A couple mentions of people being beaten, robbed, and left for dead; A couple mentions of an accident & injuries; A couple mentions of being hateful; A couple mentions of butchering chickens and turkeys & plucking them; A mention of hunting.


Sexual Content- Hand holding (once); Mentions of blushes, crushes, & winks; A few mentions of a mother who “keeps company” (this is explained as the mother having men come into her home and Maggie mentions later that the mother is living in sin); A couple mentions of chaperones;
*Note: A couple mentions of a wife being sad after her four babies died.

-Margaret “Maggie” Baldwin, age 12-13
P.O.V. of Maggie
Set in 1740-1741
140 pages

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Pre Teens- Four Stars
New Teens- Three Stars
Early High School Teens- Three Stars
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Three Stars
This is definitely a series I can see homeschool families using in their lesson plans, but it’s also just a great alternative to secular historical fiction books out there. Maggie was a very believable pre-teen girl with her thoughts of actions, and it was a good read overall.


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for what it was.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Maggie Baldwin struggled to restrain the excitement bubbling up inside her. Her younger brother, Caleb, at ate eight, could run about the Souder shipyard with abandoned glee. But at age twelve, she was expected to use decorum befitting a lady.

Premise/plot: Maggie cares tremendously what other people think of her. Specifically she cares about what other girls her age--richer girls from prominent families--think of her. She's included, for the most part, but doesn't feel properly IN the in group. She wants to dress like them, talk like them, think like them, essentially be them. But now and then she realizes that she doesn't really think like them, that she's different. One way in which she differs from her friends is that she sees slavery as wrong. They don't. So when she sees her friend's new slave--her friend's first slave--becoming sicker and sicker, she tries to intervene to save her life. (Her father is a doctor. She has been raised to be compassionate--and observant.) Will Maggie learn to be true to herself no matter the risk to her popularity?

My thoughts: I'm not sure this is the best introduction to 'the Great Awakening.' I'm not even sure it's an adequate introduction to 'the Great Awakening.' What we do get is an outsider's perspective from a girl who does little thinking for herself for the first hundred pages. Because her friends look down upon the 'new' revivalist preachers, she does. She parrots whatever they have to say whenever the subject comes up. She ignores what other people have to say on the subject. Even if their experiences are more first-hand. The fact that she does eventually open up her mind--or perhaps I should say the Spirit awakens her mind--is good and nice. But I can't help wishing that Maggie had come to her senses quicker.

The book may or may not be set in 1744. The cover says 1744. But I could have sworn that some sentence in the book dates it in either 1740 or 1741. I can't find it now. But I remember reading it and it sticking out as odd. I want to say it was discussion about Christmas or the New Year.

I liked plenty of the characters in this one--just not Maggie, until the end.

[Becca Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this aloud with my kids, a really sweet story of a girl coming of age in 1744 during the Great Awakening. Had good discussions on the culture of the time, slavery, and revivalists.

[Ille · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: Maggie Baldwin struggled to restrain the excitement bubbling up inside her.

'Maggie's Dare' by Norma Jean Lutz is another great read in the 'Sisters in Time' series. This book follows almost 13-year-old Maggie Baldwin, the daughter of a hard working doctor and her life in the middle of the great awakening.

[Katelin K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series. Although accurately reflecting some of the issues at that time, I found Maggie’s perpetual “keeping up with the Jones’s” attitude off putting. I know this is the intent but it made it difficult to enjoy until closer to the end.

[Daniel Gaul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A critical look at 1700s slavery through the eyes of a young girl

[6thbreed · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars)

[Brooklynn]

It was a good book

[Marius B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Previously in the series: Smallpox Strikes! (#7)

Set through the years 1743-45, Maggie's Choice chronicles the adventures of the Allerton family,
-of their living through changing times
-and of their dealing with the idea of people enslaving other people.

You follow Rob's daughter - Maggie (12-14) - who struggles with leaving childhood behind, having friends whose beliefs don't align with hers, and having to choose between doing nothing and doing what is right.

Excerpt from Chapter 3, p. 25:

“You don’t wait until dark to prepare for the darkness….don’t wait until you’re at death’s door to prepare for departure.”

- said by the character Martha Lankford

Excerpt from Chapter 10, p. 86:

“'I want you to know I think this is a commendable thing you’re doing, Maggie,” her father told her after they were on their way.

‘The Lord will bless you for reaching out to another.’

‘It’s not much,” she said, still wondering if it had been all that good of an idea.

‘What a better world this would be if everyone did just a little.’ Martha said.”

Historical figures included/mentioned were Governor William Shirley of Boston, Reverend Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

Next up in the series: Boston Revolts! (The American Adventure #9)

[Tarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book from the "Sisters in Time" series takes you back to the Great Awakening (1744-1745). In this fictional story you'll meet Maggie Baldwin, a twelve-year-old. With hoop skirts, tea parties, dancing lessons, and best friends that are rich, Maggie is attempting to have a life that really doesn't fit her own simple family.

How does that poor girl, Ann, and the mistreated slave, Melee, fit into the story---and how do they affect Maggie's life?

Meanwhile, the Great Awakening is going on, and talk of the Revivalists is on everybody's lips. The "New Light" is spreading, but everyone seems to be in arguments over it. Which side will Maggie finally choose to be on?

My personal thoughts: Pretty good book---I am glad that I read it. It was great to study about that time period.

[Hannah Lofthus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a few of these a few years ago. Some are certainly better than others, but overall they are pretty good. I think they are more for girls no older than 12...I was around that age and started getting bored! :) This one was my favorite though, it was well-written and all the information about the Great Awakening was really interesting (I was a history freak from a young age...)

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good read. Young Maggie realizes that your station in life isn't what really matters, but how you treat others does. This series really is written well and is a good one for young girls to read as it teaches them about kindness, compassion, God, that they are capable of doing anything they set their minds too, etc.

[MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I TOTALLY love this book!!!

[10-11 Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a young girl named Maggie and she is on a mission to save a little slave friend of of hers will she make it or will she not if you want to find out then read this book.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read - not historic like the first two, but does show real depth in life in early America. Well worth a read.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes a Christian?

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little bit romantic. Other than that, it was still good.