Dear Diary, 

It's time to finish our recap of A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence, and whoooooo boy, what a doozy.

What could possibly go wrong when you send a bunch of under-prepared Texians against the Mexican army? Turns out, a lot of death and destruction. This book carries on the proud tradition of seeing how much misery this series can inflict on its main characters. And preteen girls couldn't get enough of it!

Tune in to find out who made it through. 

Yours Truly,

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary,

This week, we are heading to the southwest to learn about the Alamo! Our guide is Sherry Garland, and her 1998 book, A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence. 

Lucinda and her family of Mama, Papa, and her creatively named brothers live in the small frontier town of Gonzales near the Guadalupe River. Trouble is brewing between the president of Mexico, Santa Anna, and the "Texians" in San Antonio. The Lawrence family is divided in their opinions about war and independence. Tune in to hear about life on the home front in rural 1830s Texas!

Yours truly,  

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

This week, we had the privilege of talking to Paul Lee, who has been studying the history of Titanic for nearly 40 years! Every year, he publishes social media posts in real time, along with the historical events of the fateful voyage of the RMS Titanic.

Yours Truly, 

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

@RibbonBookClubPod on Bluesky

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

We're here with part 2 of our recap of A Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, and it's a DOOZY.

Flirting and snobbery abound before the fateful striking of the iceberg. But what becomes of our cast of characters? Will Margaret and Mrs. Carstairs bond over their shared trauma? Will Robert make it to safety? And will we make it through an episode without crying over a 100-year-old disaster? Tune in to find out! 

Yours truly, 

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary,

We made it to one of our most anticipated books of this series: Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady! It was written by Ellen Emerson White and published in 1998. Boy, were the late 1990s a fantastic time to hyperfocus on the Titanic.

In this story, we meet Margaret, a precocious orphan from Whitechapel. Margaret's life is about to be turned upside down when she gets a job as a companion to the wealthy Mrs. Carstairs. Together, they plan to sail first class to America on the RMS Titanic (what could possibly go wrong???). Margaret is not sure how she feels about her luxurious new surroundings, but she does enjoy the company of a certain cabin steward named Robert. 

Tune in to hear our recap of the first half of this thrilling story! 

Yours truly, 

Cate and Jen 

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

For our historical note, we had the privilege of speaking with Barbara "Bluejay" Michalski, the Chief and Keeper of Culture of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. Chief Bluejay shared with us some of the stories and projects she works on to carry on the traditions of her people. 

Tune in to hear her thoughts on settler/Indigenous relations in the 1700s and how this history can be explained to young ones. 

Yours Truly, 

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

We made another friend! Julia Carpenter is a journalist, writer, and creator from New York who loves women's history just like us! She has a great Substack called A Woman To Know where she uncovers some great stories about women in history. Also, she's been rereading the Dear America books and talking about them on her TikTok account, @juliaccarpenter. 

Tune in to hear our conversation about growing up with historical fiction, and what it's like to revisit it in adulthood. 

Yours Truly, 

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

Wow! What an emotional journey we've been on with this book! Join us as we recap the second half of Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan written by Mary Pope Osborne. 

In the story's second half, Caty continues going through the stages of grief and seems to accept her new place in the Lenape tribe. We learn more about her adopted family and the mysterious hunter with the eagle tattoo. Then, just as it seems Caty will find happiness, her world is turned upside down again! It's an important story about individual human feelings and growth. It also takes on some very serious societal issues like how current generations of white kids have to grapple with the sins of our forefathers. 

We hope you enjoy this second half as much as we did! 

Yours Truly, 

Cate and Jen 

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

It's a new book, and we (mostly Jen) were so worried about this one! Mary Pope Osborne takes on a huge challenge with her book, Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan.

Our main character, Catharine (Caty), is a Quaker living with her family on the frontier of Pennsylvania in 1763. Tensions with local Native American tribes are high after a series of broken treaties and border skirmishes. Caty's father urges her to see Indigenous people in a sympathetic light, but this gets tricky when Caty and her brother, Thomas are taken captive by a Lenape tribe. Understandably, Caty has a lot of feelings about being forcefully separated from her family, and we sit on the edge of our seats to see how Mary Pope Osborne will thread this narrative needle. Tune in! 

Yours Truly, 

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit

Dear Diary, 

It's guest-pert day! This week, we have not one, but TWO guests to talk to us about the real history of life in the tenements of the Lower East Side. Read on to get to know our guests a little better! 

Kathryn Lloyd is the Vice President of Programs and Interpretation at the Tenement Museum, where she oversees museum programming and educator training to explore social issues through personal experiences, and to connect people to each other through interpretation of the past. Most recently, she lead the interpretive development for the newest permanent exhibit, A Union of Hope: 1869, about a Black tenement family in post-Civil War New York, and lead the project team that developed the museum’s newest walking tour, Reclaiming Black Spaces.

Through her work with Turnstile Tours and her previous roles in tourism and the museum world, Amanda has brought her passion for storytelling, and for the city’s history and culture to visitors from around the world. As a native New Yorker with immigrant roots in New York’s Lower East Side, the experience of turn of the century Jewish immigrants has always been a subject of particular interest.  Amanda has a background in museum education and visitor services, having worked previously for the Museum of Modern Art, Tenement Museum, HistoryMiami, and as the host of How to Be American, the Tenement Museum’s podcast that explores multiculturalism and American identity through the stories immigrants, migrants and refugees. When she’s not working, Amanda enjoys traveling, crafting and spending time with her husband, two sons and rescue pooch, Millie. 

Tune in for our fascinating conversation! 

Yours Truly, 

Cate and Jen

RibbonBookClubPod.com

@RibbonBookPod on Facebook and Instagram

Edited by Danny Heck  

Theme music by Ericka Page @theerickapage 

Cover art by Chelsea Tanis @TheTrumpetClub

Research help by Callie Cherry  @_likethefruit