Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Rowan Hood, Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest
	Author:	Springer, Nancy
	Date Published:	2001
	Genre:	Historical Fiction
	Grade Level:	5 - 8
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
Rosemary was at the edge of the forest gathering coltsfoot when she felt the power wrap around her. She crouched on the ground trembling, her heart beating fast. It was her mother's spell wrapping her in a protective embrace, but she was terrified, for she knew something was horribly wrong for her mother to resort to such. Abruptly, it was over. As suddenly as it had begun. Quickly and quietly, Ro stood and headed homeward through the forest, soon breaking into a mad dash. She knew in her heart what she would find, for only one thing could have ended the spell so suddenly. The forest glade where she had lived all her life was in ashes, smoke rising from where the cottage had stood. Ro knew that the villagers had nothing to do with the destruction. They had understood the power of her mother's wood magic and looked to her for healing and wisdom. But, the castle folk...they only understood a perceived threat to their power--they would never understand the truth. Yes, there was the proof. Hoof prints ringed the blackened ground. It was definitely the lord's henchmen that had killed her mother. What was she to do? If she went to the village, she would be forced to wed whomever the lord chose for her. Or, she could become a beggar, or privy cleaner or chimney sweep. Or... Her father. She had never see him, only heard about him. She could find him, try to understand why he had never even been to see her, and see if there was a place for her. She recovered her mother's ring, miraculously unscathed by the fire. Then, she piled blackened stones and charred timbers into a rough cairn over her mother's charred body. She recovered her rough bow and a sheaf of arrows and spare bowstring, and a rough wool jerkin. She cut her hair and slit her clothes and bound them so she appeared as a boy. Then, she set out for the long walk to find her father. For, though no one but she and her mother knew WHOM her father was, everyone knew his name and where he lived. More or less. And Sherwood Forest was several weeks walk away.