On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club - The Pact (The Illustrated Colonials, Book One) by Tom Durwood #BookReview #HistoricalFiction #YoungAdult @TDurwood @maryanneyarde

 

Please join me in welcoming historical fiction / young adult author, Tom Durwood onto Oh look, another book. Tom is taking his book on tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club and I am so excited to be taking part in this tour.

The Pact

(The Illustrated Colonials, Book One)

By Tom Durwood

Six international teens join the American Revolution.

Coming of age and making history.  

They went into 1776 looking for a fight. Little did they know how much it would cost them… 

Six rich kids from around the globe join the Bostonian cause, finding love and treachery along the path to liberty. 

A new perspective one on of history’s most fascinating moments. 

Amply illustrated edition of a young-adult historical fiction novel. 

Writing children's historical fiction is one of the most difficult things to do because not only is your audience very elusive, but you also have to stay true to the historical sources and make the writing simple enough to be understood. Tom Durwood has ignored all the above and has written a historical fantasy based loosely around the American Revolutionary Wars.

I won't lie, this novel did not immediately grab me. I had, and still have, no idea what the first half of the novel was about, it seemed like six very disjointed short stories about six children/teens. Thankfully, in the second half of the book, things become a little clearer. This is the kind of novel where you really have to hang in there.

Apart from the confusion as to who everyone was in the first half of this novel, the seemingly constant stream of metaphors, and the excessive amounts of famous quotes, there is a hidden gem of a story inside. This novel focuses on six very different protagonists, who are brought together because...I have no idea why they were brought together, but they are at this special school and they learn things, as you do, but they also learn from each other and somehow they go from protecting cabbages to making an unbreakable promise. It was certainly an interesting premise.

What surprised me the most about this novel was the author's genuine concern about his lack of skill as a writer. He confesses, at the end of the novel that he wants the illustrations to distract from his "failings as a writer." My advice to Mr Durwood would be this, forget your insecurities, and write, writes as much as you can every day, and one day you will write the perfect sentence and you will not need illustrations because your words will speak for themselves.

I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series because I think Mr Durwood has the talent to write a compelling series, he just has to believe in himself.

I received my copy of this book from The Coffee Pot Book Club. You can find your copy over on Amazon (Universal Buy Link). 

Tom Durwood

Tom Durwood is a teacher, writer and editor with an interest in history. Tom most recently taught English Composition and Empire and Literature at Valley Forge Military College, where he won the Teacher of the Year Award five times. Tom has taught Public Speaking and Basic Communications as guest lecturer for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group at the Dam’s Neck Annex of the Naval War College.

Tom’s ebook Empire and Literature matches global works of film and fiction to specific quadrants of empire, finding surprising parallels. Literature, film, art and architecture are viewed against the rise and fall of empire. In a foreword to Empire and Literature, postcolonial scholar Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago calls it “imaginative and innovative.” Prof. Chakrabarty writes that “Durwood has given us a thought-provoking introduction to the humanities.” His subsequent book “Kid Lit: An Introduction to Literary Criticism” has been well-reviewed. “My favorite nonfiction book of the year,” writes The Literary Apothecary (Goodreads).

Early reader response to Tom’s historical fiction adventures has been promising. “A true pleasure … the richness of the layers of Tom’s novel is compelling,” writes Fatima Sharrafedine in her foreword to “The Illustrated Boatman’s Daughter.” The Midwest Book Review calls that same adventure “uniformly gripping and educational … pairing action and adventure with social issues.” Adds Prairie Review, “A deeply intriguing, ambitious historical fiction series.”

Tom briefly ran his own children’s book imprint, Calico Books (Contemporary Books, Chicago). Tom’s newspaper column “Shelter” appeared in the North County Times for seven years. Tom earned a Masters in English Literature in San Diego, where he also served as Executive Director of San Diego Habitat for Humanity.

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