A Ride into Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick

by Ann Rinaldi

Overview

The Revolutionary War is raging. Food and firewood are scarce, and Tempe Wick is worried that she will not be able to care for her ailing mother and her family and still maintain the farm. Her ability to hold on to her world is threatened when a mutinous soldier demands that she lend him her beloved horse in exchange for keeping her brother’s rum-smuggling activities secret from the authorities. This dramatic historical novel is based on a real event that has been popularized into American legend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547351520
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	04/18/1995
Sold by:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	188,030
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
File size:	215 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. A self-made writer and newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, Ms. Rinaldi attributes her interest in history to her son, who enlisted her to take part in historical reenactments up and down the East Coast. She lives with her husband in central New Jersey. 

Reading Group Guide

1. Civil wars divide families. How has it divided the families in this story?

2. Abraham tells Mary that compromise is a necessary commodity, but not all the characters agree. How do Mary, Tempe, and General Wayne feel about compromise? How do you feel about it? When should you compromise, and when should you stand firm?

3. What does Mary mean when she says that everyone is part and parcel of the whole of their life experiences? In what ways have your life experiences determined who you are now?

4. Mary tells Henry, "Sometimes it helps to air old ills in the sunlight." What does she mean?

5. Tempe believes that a person's motives do not matter as much as their actions. Do you think one is more important than the other? Why?

6. In what ways might Henry's living as a lunatic make his life easier? Harder?

7. Abraham advises Mary that "those closest to the problem cannot see the solution." Do you think this is true? Who can you turn to when you have a problem?

8. In his letter to Mary, Abraham says, "I choose to look at the past fondly and to the future with hope." Why might he choose to see things this way? How should he handle his unhappy memories?

Copyright (c) 2003. Published in the U.S. by Harcourt, Inc.

Editorial Reviews

This is an exciting, adventurous story about Tempe Wick, a true historical figure, as told through the eyes of her young fourteen-year-old cousin, Mary Cooper. Mary's family sends her to live with Tempe's family during the Revolutionary War, because her patriotic leanings provoke her Tory family. In the middle of the war, this story recounts Tempe's great love of her horse, Colonial, who remains the only thing Tempe has that reminds her of her dead father. The war and her father's death have made Tempe outwardly hard, independent and bitter. However, she puts up this independent attitude in order to survive the awful circumstances. During this time of war, many people are sick, and food is scarce. Also, people talk of mutiny in the camps, and during a strange twist of events, Mary and Tempe find themselves in the middle of a possible mutiny. Tempe, however, has been deceived, and she almost unwittingly allows her good name to be associated with mutiny. In the end, we see that Tempe is not the insensitive, spoiled person she appears to be; she has put on those facades to deal with the war and her father's absence in her life. This entertaining and historically accurate book portrays the horrors of war. Mary's analysis of human nature and her ability to understand the war's impact on those around her offer a thought-provoking statement about the importance of maintaining peace and being true to oneself regardless of the circumstance. 2004, St Martin's Griffin, Ages 10 to 14.
—Kara E. Nichols

Children's Literature

"A suspenseful read . . . realistic and . . . exciting."—Booklist

From the Publisher