Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre

Bibliography: Rinaldi, A. (2004). Fifth of March: a story of the Boston Massacre. Fairbanks, AK: Gulliver.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12-16

Reader's Annotation: Tensions are running high in pre-Revolutionary Boston as fourteen year-old Rachael Marsh works to improve herself and earn the respect of her employers, John and Abigail Adams. All of her hard work is threatened when those tensions explode in a riot on March 5, 1770 and the young British soldier Rachael has been seeing stands accused of murder.

Author: Ann Rinaldi was born in New York City on August 27, 1934. She had a tumultuous childhood, living with her father, who discouraged her from writing, and a stepmother. However, she eventually became a newspaper columnist before successfully publishing her first novel, Term Paper. She has written a total of forty novels, eight of which were listed as notable by the ALA.

Plot Summary: "It's 1770, and 14-year-old Rachael Marsh is a servant in the Boston household of John Adams. But her loyalty to the Adams family is tested by her friendship with Matthew Kilroy, a British private with an unsavory reputation. Rachael knows Matthew is frustrated and angry, but even she is surprised when he is accused of joining soldiers in firing upon a mob of citizens . . . in a bloody encounter that came to be known as the Boston Massacre." (back cover).

Critical Evaluation: At first, Rachael Marsh seems like a sympathetic character. She is not a zealous patriot like one assumes all Bostonians were in the 1770s. She is not even sure what a patriot is. Instead, she is shy and uncertain, and she eschews hasty decisions and the mob mentality. In many ways, Rachael does resemble the stereotypical New Englander with her contradictory conservative progressivism and humble pride. She is slow to choose sides and cautious in her opinions, but she is certain that she has the right to form them for herself. However, as the story progressed, I found it harder and harder to feel sympathy for Rachael. Her admirable chastity becomes annoying when she obsesses over her guilt for Matthew's actions. Her believe in the virtues of education also becomes empty when she insists on its value using repetitive generalities about reading books. Rather than being sympathetic, Rachael begins to sound shrewish and naive. Furthermore, the novel moves forward slowly at times. Occasionally, I would suddenly discover that I had read several pages without taking in anything, but rather than go back and reread the unheeded passages, I continued on and suffered no loss of understanding as a result. Despite these drawbacks, however, Rinaldi's depiction of the setting is interesting and realistic.

Curriculum Ties:

Book Talk Ideas:
• adapt scene where Henry Knox tells Rachael she is no longer a British-American
• focus on Rachael's friendship with Matthew
• read the scene of the Boston Massacre

Challenge Issues: violence, use of negative racial term

Challenge Defense:
• Be familiar with context of issues
• Explain library selection policies
• Provide reviews of the book from reputable sources
• Explain library challenge procedures
• Offer challenge form

Why was this text included in this project? Breadth coupled with an interest in the period.