AUDIOBOOKS: YA Sync : Stories with Histories

The theme of the first week was Stories With Histories and these two books were full of history, both real and literary. 

The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War
I like these kinds of books: assorted short stories with a theme, and each author wrote a story about the First World War based on an object. Some stories were set during the war, some were in any of the decades after the war, some were set in other countries. Like any collection, some stories stand out more than others. 

Much variety, and I tried to just listen to one at a time so as to appreciate each one separately. Captain Rosalie was excellent, about a little girl in France whose father is fighting. She thinks she is a secret agent sitting in the back of class, gathering information as a part of the effort.  Maud's Story about women working in the factories during the war. Our Jacko was set in the sixties in Ireland and allowed a  family to recognize the contributions of their ancestors, and brought war to life for kids who like to 'play' war.

• Our Jacko by Michael Morpurgo, inspired by a Brodie helmut
• Another Kind of Missing by AL Kennedy, inspired by a compass
• Don't Call it Glory by Marcus Sedgwick, inspired by a nose of a Zeppelin bomb
• The Country You Called Home by John Boyne, inspired by a recruitment poster
• When They Were Needed Most by Tracy Chevalier, inspired by a Princess Mary gift fund box
• A World that Has No War in It by David Almond, inspired by a soldier's writing
• A Harlem Hellfighter and His Horn by Tanya Lee stone, inspired by sheet music
• Maud's Story by Adele Gerais, inspired by a war-time butter dish
• Captain Rosalie by Timothy de Fombelle, inspired by a Victoria Cross
• Each Slow Dusk by Sheena Wilkinson, inspired by school magazines
• Little Wars by Ursula Dubosarsky, inspired by a French toy soldier

Pretty impressive collection of authors! 

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavarello

Sherlock Holmes must be one of the most 'inspired by' characters written in modern day, and this one does not disappoint. I knew A Study in Charlotte sounded familiar, as spritereads had brought this to my attention last year. This is the first of a trilogy and I will be reading the rest!

Set in modern times at a New England boarding school, descendents of Sherlock Holmes (Charlotte) and Dr Watson (Jamie) meet up, with all their family history there to cause problems. When a student both Charlotte and Jamie had had bad interactions with is found murdered, they must work together to clear their names. It is so much more than that, with much respect to the original books, and homage with different short stories. The characters were great, the plot was good, even descendents of Moriarty appear. I can't wait to read the next ones: The Last of August, and The Case for Jamie.