Tina and David by Joan Tate

Tina is 10 years old when she first meets David. He is an extremely shy young boy who cannot seem to speak to people. Tina is the only one in their classroom that makes an effort to communicate with David. She finds a unique way of helping David to communicate. She begins writing notes to him. Soon everyone is asking Tina to "ask David" whenever they need to communicate with him.

Years have passed and Tina has moved on to a career in a factory. She hasn't thought of David since their year in school together. One day she sees him in the same factory she works in. Soon after as she is waiting for the bus she sees a piece of paper sticking out of a knot hole in a tree. It turns out David has recognized her and has taken up their old form of communication.

David is still the tongue-tied boy that he was when he and Tina were 10. He is able to communicate enough to get by in society but he leads a very lonely life. David is comfortable with Tina, she doesn't try to push him to talk.

This is such a sweet story! It was one of my favorites when I was a young teen. Because I was a shy person the characters struggle with communicating touched a familiar cord in my own young self. I love revisiting books that are old favorites. I re-read this as part of the Contentment Reading Challenge:

Tina and David was first published in 1966, I don't think it is in publication any longer. I'm curious to know if anyone else out there has read it. Let me know!

A Different Day A Different Destiny by Annette Laing

In A Different Day A Different Destiny once again Hannah, Alex and Brandon travel back in time. They have just returned from World War II London, now they are each transported to different destinations in the year 1851.

Hannah arrives in Scotland. She quickly finds work at one of the factories in the area. Hannah has not changed from the last book in that she is still very self-centered and angry and opinionated. Her job doesn't last long in this factory. The hours are long, the work back-breaking and the pay poor. She decides to find work somewhere else. She travels to another part of Scotland and finds the working conditions even worse. She eventually finds her way to the Great Exhibition in London.

Alex finds himself in Georgia. Slavery is a way of life in the South. He meets up with a young slave named Jupiter(Jupe for short). He doesn't know that Jupe is trying to escape to the North. Alex finds work with Mr. Thornhill, a lawyer in Georgia who soon begins to treat Alex as his own son. Alex is confused by conflicting feelings for Mr. Thornhill. Mr. Thornhill seems to be generous to Alex, but then turns into a sharp cruel man when it comes to slavery and his everyday dealings in business. Alex knows that slavery is wrong but has fleeting thoughts that slaves are treated well and that all the stories of beatings are exagerated. He soon finds out otherwise. He and Mr. Thornhill set sail with Jupiter for the Great Exhibition in London.

Brandon finds himself at the bottom of a coal mine in England's Black Country. He is determined that he will never go down into the coal mine again. He soon finds himself working for a man in a funeral parlor. When he is fired from that job he is hired by Lady Chatsfield. She is interested in using him to talk to her anti-slavery womens group. She ends up taking he and another boy to the Great Exhibition in London.

Throughout their travels the kids learn about the different areas that they are in and how people lived in the time period that they are in. I really enjoyed this book and am hoping that Dr. Laing is working on the next installment of this fun series.