Hadder MacColl

by Patricia Calvert

Fiercely proud and loyal to her Highland heritage, fifteen-year-old Hadder can't understand why her beloved older brother, after his return from schooling in Edinburgh, on longer seems to share her passionate belief in the Jacobite cause.

134 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 1986

About the author

"We are all emigrants from the same country — the land of childhood. What I want to do is write about the journey all of us have taken — or are in the process of taking — from that special place."

Patricia Calvert celebrates her birthday on July 22nd. She grew up in the mountains of Montana, in what was "a magic world for any child, one in which lodgepole pines grew like arrows toward a sky that seemed always blue." Even though Ms. Calvert knew she wanted to be a writer when she was ten, it wasn't until her daughters were grown and had moved away from home and she and her husband moved to Minnesota that she concentrated on her writing.

Among her books, The Snowbird and Yesterday's Daughter have both been named to ALA's Best Books for Young Adults list. Glennis, Before and After received a Christopher Award. Betrayed! (Atheneum) appeared in 2002 and Robert E. Peary: To the Top of the World (Benchmark) in 2001. Most recently, Ms. Calvert has been focusing on nonfiction writing, bringing us biographies of Zebulon Pike and Kit Carson, as well as The Ancient Celts.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a child and loved it then. I now re-read it again as an adult and I still love it. It follows Mary Hadder MacColl as she grows into a young woman. Her brother, whom she adores, comes home to the Highlands of Scotland after attending school in Edinburgh, but he returns a different person. With the Prince of Scotland stirring up a rebellion, Hadder wishes she was a boy so she could join the cause. Though dealing with adult subjects (such as war), it's able to stay a children's book and still captivated me as an adult!

[Neile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This starts off incredibly lively with vivid characters. Just delightful. Then suddenly it starts rushing and at least once I checked to make certain some pages hadn't fallen out. Still, most of this novel is strong and interesting, and a depiction of a life that usually is highly romanticized. This managed to stay a children's book without glossing over too much. If only the end had been given a little more space, rather than feeling sudden and awkward.