Blog Tour: Carly Mills, Pioneer Girl: The Lady with the Lamp by Jane Smith

Title: Carly Mills, Pioneer Girl: The Lady with the Lamp

Author: Jane Smith

Genre: Historical Fiction, time slip

Publisher: Big Sky Publishing

Published: 5^th July 2021

Format: Paperback

Pages: 120

Price: $12.50

Synopsis: In this empowering new series feisty tween and time-traveller Carly Mills discovers how the female pioneers paved the way to help change the world. Through gutsy determination, integrity and courage, trailblazing women such as Caroline Chisholm, Dr Lilian Cooper, Dame Nellie Melba, Florence Nightingale, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie and Miles Franklin achieved remarkable things. In each adventure, Carly and her friends learn about the past and discover how to apply their examples of dignity, kindness and courage to modern life.

‘Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift – there is nothing small about it.’ – Florence Nightingale, Founder of modern nursing, 1820-1910.

London! When Simone invites Carly and Dora to stay with her parents in England on holiday, they’re looking forward to an adventure – but they’re not expecting to go back to the past, let alone face discrimination, disease and danger! Thrust back into London of over a hundred years ago, when women were not allowed to have real careers, they meet one woman who is about to change it all: Florence Nightingale. Through war and peace, Carly and her friends learn that courage sometimes means owning up to your mistakes.

ABOUT THE SERIES

In this empowering new series feisty tween and time-traveller Carly Mills discovers how the female pioneers paved the way to help change the world. Through gutsy determination, integrity and courage, trailblazing women such as Caroline Chisholm, Dr Lilian Cooper, Dame Nellie Melba, Florence Nightingale, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie and Miles Franklin achieved remarkable things. In each adventure, Carly and her friends learn about the past and discover how to apply their examples of dignity, kindness and courage to modern life.

MORE BOOKS IN THE SERIES
Book 4 – The lady with the lamp – Florence Nightingale –June 2021
Thrust back into London of over a hundred years ago, when girls
were not allowed to have real careers, Carly meets one woman who is
about to change it all: Florence Nightingale.

Book 5 – Taking flight – Amelia Earhart – September 2021
Carly and her friends find themselves back in the past, fighting for
equality alongside one of history’s most charming rebels: Amelia
Earhart.

~*~

When Dora and Carly arrive in London, they can’t wait to go on a huge London adventure with Simone and her parents – until they find out that’s unlikely, and Simone drags them into the past, where they meet Florence Nightingale, and are swept along to the Crimean War, where they are told they will be trained as nurses. But as they experience nursing and illness, they long to go home, and back to the safety of the twenty-first century.

The fourth in this series showcases female friendship, history, and female historical figures who made a difference in the medical world through the story of Florence Nightingale. Much like book three, it would suit the CBCA 2O21 theme – Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds, as it showcases an old world – history in an inventive way through time travel and the eyes of young girls from the 2020s.

This is a great book for the Australian curriculum and educational purposes, in a variety of subjects, as it can be read for English, History or social studies, and can be used across a large range of age groups to complement topics on feminism, Florence Nightingale or the Crimean War – or any other topic it might fit into that I may not have thought of. This series and books like it bring history to life, and these fictional stories can be used to bolster the facts in the history books and biographies used to explore these topics.

This is a fun little series, and one that I am thoroughly enjoying reading it. Jane Smith has made everything work seamlessly together, allowing the history and fiction to come together to educate as well as telling a rollicking good story that will capture the imaginations of readers. I love that these books celebrate the achievements of women throughout history in all areas – the arts, science, medicine, politics, and everything else we can think of, and I would love to see some of those women whose names might not be as widely known appear as well. Filled with fun but also a hefty dose of reality, these books also deliver the realities of discrimination and the changing role of women in history whilst still making history accessible for younger readers. It shows that despite changes, these prejudices still exist, and women are still fighting them but sometimes in different ways.

This is a great addition to the Carly Mills series.