ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HER TIMES
Barbara Willard is one of those vaguely-mysterious authors who guarded their privacy closely and kept themselves to themselves. Why do I know her? My childhood home was filled with books written by British authors. Those were the books I read first and most often, and Barbara Willard’s amazing stories were among my favorites.
Barbara was born in 1909 in Sussex, England into a family of Shakespearean actors. Thus it does not come as much of a surprise that Barbara began her career as an actress. From there she went on to write books for adults, until eventually moving to juvenile literature.
I loved the Mantlemass Chronicles when they were published in the 1970’s. This is a series of books that take place in England and tell the story of Willard and his family over the period of the 14th century through the 17th. This sweeping adventure is told across eight books that were written for 10-12 year olds and are filled with adventure and history.
Barbara Willard’s stories are much like those of Enid Blyton, only set in historical context.
WHAT BARBARA WILLARD WROTE
- A Grove of Green Holly
- The Mantlemass Chronicles
- The Miller’s Boy
- The Lark and the Laurel
- The Sprig of Broom
- A Cold Wind Blowing
- The Eldest Son
- The Iron Lily
- A Flight of Swans
- The Keys of Mantlemass
- Harrow and Harvest
- The Queen of the Pharisees’ Children
- The Family Tower
- Snail and the Pennithornes
- Snail and the Pennithornes Next Time
- The Country Maid
- The Farmer’s Boy
- Ned Only
- Hetty
- The Gardener’s Grandchildren
- Storm from the West
- The Richleighs of Tantamount
- Surprise Island
- If All the Swords in England: A Story of Thomas Becket
- Augustine Came to Kent
- Son of Charlemagne
Before we get to the link party, I wanted to share with you a few other books that your children will love reading this summer. And if you have that struggling reader that many of us do, I have written about strategies you can use to help.
AND NOW, THE LINK PARTY!
FIRST, MY WONDERFUL CO-HOSTS:
AMANDA HOPKINS AT HOPKINS HOMESCHOOL
CHRISTINE HOWARD AT LIFE’S SPECIAL NECESSITIES
DAWN PELUSO AT SCHOOLIN’ SWAG
JENNIFER KING AT A PEACE OF MIND
KIMBERLEY LINKLETTER AT VINTAGE BLUE SUITCASE
KRISTEN HEIDER AT A MOM’S QUEST TO TEACH
LORI HOOTEN AT AT HOME: WHERE LIFE HAPPENS
WENDY ROSS AT LIFE ON CHICKADEE LANE
YVONNE BILLIAN AT THE LIFE WE BUILD
NOW, THE RULES (DON’T WORRY, THEY ARE REALLY SIMPLE):
- Write a blog post and then hop over to the linkup and add your post!
- Grab a blog button for your post.
Blogging Through The Alphabet Link Party
Instructions: Select all code above, copy it and paste it inside your blog post as HTML
3. Take some time to read the other great posts if you have the time and spread some encouragement and appreciation with a comment or two!
Together we can help each other increase our traffic, read some interesting tips and ideas, and spread some good cheer that will help us start off our weekend!