{"id":9419,"date":"2017-11-11T19:34:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T00:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9419"},"modified":"2021-05-30T10:23:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T14:23:32","slug":"thirteenth-child-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9419","title":{"rendered":"Thirteenth Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirteenth Child<\/a><\/em> (2009) Patricia C. Wrede<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This story is set in an alternate US (North Columbia) in the mid-1800s.<\/p>\n

(T)he Columbian Presidents past the first five\u2014George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Eduard Baier, and Herman Augustus Morton.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eff is the twin of a seventh son, and also a thirteenth child.<\/p>\n

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A SEVENTH SON IS LUCKY. THINGS COME A little easier to him, all his life long: love and money and fine weather and the unexpected turn that brings good fortune from bad circumstances. A lot of seventh sons go for magicians, because if there\u2019s one sort of work where luck is more useful than any other, it\u2019s making magic.
\n…
\nNobody seems to think much about all the other sons, or the daughters. There\u2019s nearly always daughters, because hardly anybody has seven sons right in a row, boom, like that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I adore this book.<\/p>\n

Eff is a complex and complicated character–she is told by her extended family that she is bad like–evil even–and takes that into her head. Luckily, her immediate family loves her, and try to convince her this isn’t true. But Eff’s story reminds us that the negative things we were told about ourselves take hold and are very difficult to root out later.<\/p>\n

But it is of course more than that.<\/p>\n

I hardly knew my oldest brothers and sisters. Frank had been away at university since the year I was born. Sharl and Julie had both gotten married before I was two, and Peter had gone off East to school in the same year. Diane had moved out the year before, to keep the books for a candy-making business one of Papa\u2019s friends owned. Even Charlie, who was going off to university in the fall, was older enough that I didn\u2019t see him much. They felt more like strange grown-ups I had to be polite to than like family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This passage has always stuck in my mind. My grandmother’s youngest sister, and her oldest brother’s first child were only a year apart. Cousin Margie always called my grandmother Aunt Lil, but called Grandmom’s youngest sister Doris.<\/p>\n

It’s one of the things that I don’t think we consider in a modern world. That all those large families of the late 19th and early 20th century would have been nothing like our current families, and unlike in ways we’d never consider.<\/p>\n

It seemed wrong to me that all the doctors and magicians should put so much work into trying to keep me alive, when if they\u2019d known I was a thirteenth child and bound to turn evil in a few years, they wouldn\u2019t have lifted a finger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s terribly disheartening, but also precisely what happens if we aren’t careful.<\/p>\n

But that is NOT what is awesome about this book. What is awesome is that it is all about natural history and learning about the world and science. Half the continent is unknown, and what many people want most is to learn more about that world.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can mail me your notes whenever it\u2019s convenient,\u201d Professor Jeffries assured him. <\/p>\n

A month later, a tatty-looking packet arrived for Professor Jeffries, containing ten pages that looked like they\u2019d been crumpled up, sat on, and maybe used to strain coffee.
\n…
\n\u201cJune third, eight miles north from Klein settlement. Red fox and three kits at watering hole. Deer mice tracks. Iceweed at water\u2019s edge; haven\u2019t seen this far south before. Looks spindly.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Science and discovery take time and work and mistakes, and this book does a wonderful job showing that, while building an amazing and fascinating world.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede This story is set in an alternate US (North Columbia) in the mid-1800s. (T)he Columbian Presidents past the first five\u2014George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Eduard Baier, and Herman Augustus Morton. Eff is the twin of a seventh son, and also a thirteenth child. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A SEVENTH […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,27,2,48,41,20],"tags":[230],"class_list":["post-9419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-alternate-history","category-fantasy","category-female","category-reread","category-young-adult","tag-patricia-c-wrede"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2rV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2564,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2564","url_meta":{"origin":9419,"position":0},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede I discovered Patricia C. Wrede's writing when I couldn't resist the title, Sorcery & Cecelia -OR- The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. I also read and enjoyed A Matter of Magic. Both are alternate histories where magic is an integral part of the world, however, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3241,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3241","url_meta":{"origin":9419,"position":1},"title":"The Far West","author":"Michelle","date":"November 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede This is the conclusion to the Frontier Magic Series, that started with Thirteenth Child. Eff is a thirteenth child, a fact which plagued her when she was younger, because her aunts and uncles and cousins believed that she was unluckly. The fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Far-West.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3236,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3236","url_meta":{"origin":9419,"position":2},"title":"Across the Great Barrier","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede The sequel to Thirteenth Child, Across the Great Barrier continues the story of Eff Rothmer. Her twin brother is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a strong magician, but Eff--the old of the two--is the thirteenth child, and she grew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Across the Great Barrier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/across-the-great-barrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5760,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5760","url_meta":{"origin":9419,"position":3},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"March 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede Eff's twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a natural magician. \u201cWow,\u201d Dick said, looking after Papa and Lan. He looked back at me. \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re a natural, too? Because you\u2019re his twin?\u201d I stared at him.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thirteenth-Child","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5766,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5766","url_meta":{"origin":9419,"position":4},"title":"Across the Great Barrier","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede The sequel to Thirteenth Child finds Eff coming to terms with her magic, and slowly discovering her dream--to travel the West, beyond the Great Barrier, studying the wildlife in that untamed area. Luckily for her, the events of the previous book have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Across-the-Great-Barrier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Across-the-Great-Barrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5771,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5771","url_meta":{"origin":9419,"position":5},"title":"The Far West","author":"Michelle","date":"April 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede The final book finds Eff grown up, but still unsure what to do with herself, even though she has come to terms with being a thirteenth child. Sometimes I couldn\u2019t help thinking that the unluckiest thing about being a thirteenth child was having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Far-West","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Far-West.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}