Blog Tour: The Borden Murders

October 24, 2015 ARC, Blog Tour, Book Review 0

I received this ARC from Publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

 

So, this book doesn’t come out until January but the topic seemed appropriately creepy for a blog tour this time of year! I know I was totally creeped out reading it!

About the Book:

9780553498080

Here’s middle-grade nonfiction that reads like a thriller. With murder, court battles, and sensational newspaper headlines, the story of Lizzie Borden is compulsively readable and perfect for the Common Core.

Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.

In a compelling, linear narrative, Miller takes readers along as she investigates a brutal crime: the August 4, 1892, murders of wealthy and prominent Andrew and Abby Borden. The accused? Mild-mannered and highly respected Lizzie Borden, daughter of Andrew and stepdaughter of Abby. Most of what is known about Lizzie’s arrest and subsequent trial (and acquittal) comes from sensationalized newspaper reports; as Miller sorts fact from fiction, and as a legal battle gets under way, a gripping portrait of a woman and a town emerges.

With inserts featuring period photos and newspaper clippings—and, yes, images from the murder scene—readers will devour this nonfiction book that reads like fiction.

My Thoughts:

Going in to reading this book the only thing I knew about Lizzie Borden was the rhyme, “Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.” That was enough to make me want to know more! I jumped at the chance to add this one to my nonfiction reads.

I started reading The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & the Trial of the Century at work. I was sitting in the lobby of the school (running the book fair) when I read about the gruesome murder scenes. I now have a list of students who want to read this book solely based on the look of horror they saw on my face! And these aren’t students who are always in the library looking for books! I can already tell it’s going to be a hit with some of my more hesitant readers.

The book starts off grabbing the readers attention with the murders and Lizzie finding her father’s body. The reader is walked through the events leading up to Lizzie’s arrest. From there we follow all the legal steps, including the trial, as well as newspaper coverage and more. I really appreciated the way callout sections explained certain aspects of the story that my students might not be familiar with. For example, the order of events leading to a trial, what newspapers of the day were like, what a shirtwaist is… all these things were concisely described. This made is so readers could easily understand the story without getting pulled out to look things up.

And there were so many interesting things to learn! The whole case is fascinating and the many conflicting stories had me wishing we could somehow go back in time with modern technology and find out what really happened. It was really frustrating for me to end the book and not know for certain! But that’s the truth of the situation.

The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & the Trial of the Century is gruesome yet fascinating.  It’s certainly a nonfiction book I see flying of my shelves. I cannot wait to get a copy in my library!

About the Author:smiller

Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA Notable Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus and named a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.

 

Leave a Reply