Lots of buzz around Hugh R MacDonald’s Us and Them (CBUP 2016) this week. We can’t resist sharing these reader reviews posted on Amazon – especially the calls for a TV series!

Marguerite MacClavey writes:

“Yes, the trials and hardships are articulated very well but so too are the tender moments. Love between a couple married for years and the new love awakening in the hearts of the young ones in their communities reawaken my first loves and the love I now hold for my life’s partner.

“I wish I could gift this book to adolescents who have no idea of the sacrifices many of their ancestors faced. I would even go so far as to say I would love to see this book – and a third one please – made into a movie. I have no doubt that writing of this caliber would translate with ease into a documentary – or even a movie.

“The men and the women in these novels demonstrate the best of us when we are called upon to keep our families together. It would be excellent for our children to watch this with their families and talk about subjects not often enough discussed – ethics, morals, work ethics and the strength of families who forged their values through hard work, worry and love.”

Joan (Joni) Brown (in Nebraska) writes:

“Thank you to the Author. Hugh MacDonald for the story line … of how life was … and how someone can make a difference in another’s life … and pass it forward..:)..”

Fred Lavery writes:

“The themes and images portrayed here are very familiar to anyone who remembers the days of “coal as king” in Cape Breton. It’s easy to picture the faces of our ‘kith and kin’ in the personalities presented, making for affecting results as the story builds. For the younger generations … a realistic look back at the rugged history and hard won labour battles fought by miners and their families in the early and mid-1900s.

“From ‘Trapper Boy’ to ‘Us and Them,’ here’s hoping we get to follow JW’s journey further in the future, then maybe the TV series adaptation….”

TV series has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? (Oh, the Trapper Boy reference is of course Hugh’s first novel, to which Us and Them is a stand alone sequel – but you knew that.)

We are delighted for author Hugh R. MacDonald, whose latest YA novel, Us and Them, received a favourable review in CM Magazine (Vol. XXIII Number 23, February 24, 2017).

“Us & Them is both entertaining and educative.”

“Well-structured … Us & Them … brings to life a dramatic and significant part of history.”

“Recommended.”

Link to the full review here.

Trapper Boy references Hugh’s first novel (CBU Press 2012), to which Us and Them is a stand alone sequel.

CM (Canadian Review of Materials) is published weekly from September through June and is an all-volunteer online publication which features reviews of books and other materials that are authored, illustrated and/or published by Canadians and that are produced for/of interest to children and adolescents. CM‘s reviewers are teachers, teacher-librarians, public librarians and university professors who have an interest and expertise in materials for juveniles. CM‘s contents are of great interest to those who are seeking evaluative comments to assist them in making personal or institutional purchases of Canadian books or other materials for juveniles. CM is published by the Manitoba Library Association and University of Manitoba.

There is a lovely review in the latest edition (January 11, 2017) of the Cape Breton Community Post of Hugh R. MacDonald’s two YA novels set in 1920s Cape Breton.

Yes, they are historical fiction written with young people in mind, but freelance writer and avid reader Lila Carson points out that Trapper Boy (CBU Press 2012) and Us and Them (CBU Press 2016) are “too good not to read and enjoy for yourself,” meaning adult readers of her column. Us and Them is a sequel to Trapper Boy, but holds up on its own very well.

These “incredible books,” she writes, “tell an astonishing, particularly realistic story of the mines, specifically focused on a young person’s perspective….”

MacDonald tells this “tender tale to get you completely engrossed in their lives with wonder, worry, and hope for their safety and betterment.”

This edition of the Cape Breton Community Post does not seem to be accessible on-line, so you’ll have to take our words for it!