True Brit - Beatrice 1940

2011 London Book Festival Honorable Mention

2012 Gold Award Winner, Historical Fiction, Mom's Choice Awards(R)

2012 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards, Winner for Historical Fiction

2013 Nautilus Book Awards, Silver Award for Midgrade/Young Adult Fiction

In 1940, Beatrice Sims, a spoiled English girl arrives in Santa Fe to escape the war in London. At first the twelve-year-old hates the dusty little town. But soon Beatrice makes friends with goofy Arabella, develops a crush on handsome Esteban and aids Ana, a shy Indian girl. First accused of being "faceta" - stuck up, Beatrice learns to change tires, ride wild ponies and helps the public health nurse, Clementine Pope, rescue a sick baby on an Indian pueblo.

Now in its second printing, True Brit was inspired by accounts of children who were sent to Santa Fe and elsewhere in the United States to escape the war in Europe. The book is the first of a series titled Far and Away, which features young people displaced and relocated between 1939 - 1945. The second book in the Far and Away series features the struggles of a young Jewish boy from Germany who is sent to live with a distant relative in New York City.