I thought this was a very enjoyable read. It's short, can be read in one nice lazy day. And that's not a bad thing. I get tired of door stops. Its shoI thought this was a very enjoyable read. It's short, can be read in one nice lazy day. And that's not a bad thing. I get tired of door stops. Its shortness, however, does not detract from the importance of the moral it imparts, nor does it take away from the seriousness of the history within. The writing is also stellar, balancing historical facts with an engrossing story, ensuring that you won't soon forget the history you're learning.
The moral is...that being a silent bystander is just as bad as being a perpetrator.
In this novel, we meet Sophie in 1938 Germany. She's in the Hitler Youth and she likes photography, just like her father. But whereas she used to be proud to be German, lately she's witnessing propaganda that has not feeling so proud. And when she contracts polio, the reality begins to hit much closer to home. They've gotten rid of the Jews. They've gotten rid of the church. How soon before they come and get rid of the "useless mouths"?
Sophie's family winds up in trouble and Sophie is faced with a difficult choice: run and hide, or expose the truth?
I really enjoyed reading about Sophie's battle both with her feelings and her polio. Her time in the hospital was both sad and inspiring. The author gives us an intriguing cast of characters--both adults and pre-teens. There are the confused German Youth, the mean, the silent, the helpful, the scared. The girl in the hospital doing ballet with her crutch...touched something in me. There's something for everyone in this story. While I'd suggest it be offered in every middle-school library, I also think adults will be just as moved by it all. I was.
Stella has big dreams, Broadway dreams, and she's been blessed with a great voice. But just when things start to look like they're really happening foStella has big dreams, Broadway dreams, and she's been blessed with a great voice. But just when things start to look like they're really happening for her, she goes to party (I don't consider this a spoiler as I KNEW it was going to be a party) and gets hurt. She gets hurt in a manner that takes away her hearing. And while our (deaf people) voices vibrate and we can control our volume for the most part, deafness usually results in tone deafness--I know this. So naturally, Stella fears her dreams have gone down the toilet, and quickly.
And she doesn't know how to do, how to be, anyone besides who she was before.
I appreciated that story line and I could relate, even though my hearing loss was gradual, even though I was able to properly prepare myself, as much as one can for such a circumstance, I got it. "The day is happening around me. Not to me."
Stella is only 15, so it's a shock to her. She wallows in self pity for much of the story. I confess this irritated me after a while. I understood it, mind you, but it still irritated me, partly because I couldn't help but see all the advantages she instantly had that certainly weren't available in my day. She instantly has captioning (I didn't get that until my teens. Don't even get me started on how difficult it was to understand the tv until then), a cell phone with text messaging (I was in my twenties), and cochlear implant(s).
And yet, she being 15, she doesn't realize all the things she's lucky to have. This made sense, but doesn't mean I didn't find her attitude a little frustrating.
I must say I appreciate the research the author did into all this. I think teenagers will learn a lot from this book and perhaps see the everyday things they take for granted.
And then a boy vows to show Stella in 17 days how she can live with her new disability, that she can still be happy and do things. And with this comes new insight and growth. I thought I knew who I was. But I was limiting myself to being one thing. Defining myself by my talent. There's more to me than that. More I can give. More I can share.
The author tackled a lot of things in this story: abuse, trauma, hearing loss, anxiety, divorce, stuttering. And her writing is beautiful. It's really too beautiful though, nearly poetic. And while this prose would be fabulous in literary fiction or poetry, it seemed out of place in a young adult book.
"The tightness in my chest begins to loosen like a rosebud beginning to bloom in the sun. Petals slowly open."
I don't know many people--adults or teenagers--who sit there and think in metaphors like that. And it got to be a lot, so much that I began to skim at points.
I love that this heroine isn't just cured. Too often when deaf heroines are tackled, it seems they can't have happy endings without suddenly being cured, like you can't be deaf/HoH and have a happy ending-an insult, really. I love the cochlear implant story line but at the same time I feel a great educational opportunity was squandered, as not much time was spent on them. What does she notice after they're implanted? What's it feel like? What's in there exactly? And I'm confused as to the one bandage when she was deaf on both sides. They only go in one side? More details would have been appreciated.
The romance was a over dramatic, their feelings for each other a bit over the top, but they are fifteen and at that age, everything is over dramatic. At times, however, they said things way advanced for their ages. And to be perfectly honest, it's easier to read lips when people speak normally. I can't say I really bought the "I only understand him because he stutters" thing, because as a lipreader, I can say that would make it harder.
I'm sure the author is sick of reading this, but I have to agree with previous reviewers of this title. There's far too much crammed into so few pagesI'm sure the author is sick of reading this, but I have to agree with previous reviewers of this title. There's far too much crammed into so few pages. It could have been a great full-length novel but makes a rushed novella. And while I realize this was originally part of a short story in an anthology, why not make it longer when you make it a stand alone?
That's not to say I didn't like it. It's an interesting tale, really. It's WWII and this young girl's mother is abducted by the Japanese in Manila. Her mother has been working with the resistance. Before she's hauled away, the mother hands over a locket containing data that really needs to get into the Allies' hands. So the heroine rushes off to the Allies, with the Japanese hot on her heels because they want the daughter in order to torture information from the mother.
It's nonstop action. Prisons, poison, dead soldiers, torture, chases, but what I didn't care for was how implausible many things are. Until the end, everything was just too easy for the heroine. I had a hard time believing some things, like Americans (including the heroine) can just don Japanese uniforms and go easily through checkpoints with their bad accents.
We go through more checkpoints with unconcerned soldiers who perform their duties, never looking in the back of the truck.
I thought this would be a perfect Halloween book. It's spooky and Gothic as it follows a young heroine in a household of secrets. Fresh off the boat fI thought this would be a perfect Halloween book. It's spooky and Gothic as it follows a young heroine in a household of secrets. Fresh off the boat from Siam, Annabel is thrust into a new home and life that isn't what she expected. Her father has a mysterious illness and a horrible temper. His assistants come and go at strange hours dragging burlap sacks--one is horrid; one steals her heart. There's an angry tutor blackmailing her father over who-knows-what, and a murderer on the loose.
I like the heroine and her narrative, though I thought it could have been told in a much scarier manner. (I guess this is complaint one. I wasn't scared. What should have come across as spine-tingling somehow fell flat.) She wants to be a doctor despite her father's protests and doesn't see herself as better than anyone else. There's a mystery attached to her too, her throat. And we never get all the answers. I didn't realize this, but this is apparently the first of a series. It must be as it leaves us hanging.
And that is compliant two. I hate being left hanging. That's why I don't usually read a lot of series, not unless they're mysteries in which a case is upon and shut with the book and a new case begins with the next.
And despite the heroine's feminist leanings, she comes off a bit weak in the end. I liked her, would like to know what happens to her, but there was something lacking.
And the end...it glosses over two apparently extremely exciting weeks. It goes from a house nearly burning down and a tragic death to just flying over two weeks in which apparently something drastic happens to her father. (I'm not revealing what to avoid spoiling). But I am perturbed, because what happens to her father actually sounds kind of exciting and despite the fact there's a murderer on the loose and all that, the book lacked excitement. As I said above, something got lost in the telling.
I'm somewhat on the fence about this book. I liked it. I found it very enlightening about the situation girls faced in Iran in the 80s, that period afI'm somewhat on the fence about this book. I liked it. I found it very enlightening about the situation girls faced in Iran in the 80s, that period after the Shah and the revolution, before Desert Storm. Girls are permitted to go to school but so much is yet forbidden: music, movies, etc, and they must only wear certain clothes. We meet a headstrong young teenager in a household of secrets and she has one of her own. She likes other girls, or at least thinks she does. I'll get to that.
I really liked her character and especially her friend's. They long to be independent, free to make their own choices, and even though they both have crappy home lives, they make the most of their situations and find joy in their lives--with each other. Farrin certainly doesn't get much love at home.
"Now I know she looks like a bit of a monkey, with that dark skin of hers. That's what I get for marrying into a family of desert-dwellers. But look beyond that ugliness, if you can..."
Her mother says that. To hear that from one's own mother and yet face each day with optimism and strive to get good grades and all...that's amazing. This is not a weak girl.
But at the same time, while I admired her pluck, I also thought her a bit stupid. What her and her friend do, how they get caught, I was sitting there going, "How could you smart girls--girls at the very top of your school--be so very dumb? You just saw a man hanged not long ago and now you do this, here, with the situation being what it is in your country? You couldn't wait?" And then they rebel as much as they can with their protesting and shouting and frankly, it doesn't help their situations. They went from being brave and spunky to TSTL. On the other hand, would I have acted any different? Haven't we all been wrapped up in the feeling of the moment?
This is based on a true story and if that's how it went down...then that's how it went down. The ending--sad and yet realistic--as cruel as this will sound, got the story back on track. It's not how I WANTED it to end, but after the unrealistic behavior of the girls that I found hard to fathom, I was expecting a cheesy, unrealistic HEA and was surprised. This is followed by a lovely author's note that is truly educational. I had no idea that 4,000 gay or lesbian Iranians have been executed since 1979.
I also felt while I was reading that the girls were not really lesbians...
Can you imagine going to school worrying about whether you'd be hung from the flag pole? Imagine not being able to join the cheerleader team because nCan you imagine going to school worrying about whether you'd be hung from the flag pole? Imagine not being able to join the cheerleader team because nobody would hear your cheers over the sounds of people calling you names. Imagine fearing for your life every day.
In 1959, five years after the federal courts said integration of school was the LAW, the state of Virginia still balked, protested, and even shut the schools down to avoid this. This was way after Little Rock. But imagine being the first African-American to enter this school, this place in which there was so much resistance to your presence. The heroine, Sarah, faces this nonsense along with 9 others. It's an angry mob of white kids day after day, hour after hour, yelling, screaming names and insults, throwing baseballs and spitting. Stories like this make me very ashamed to be American.
Sarah's parts were just painful to read. Sad. I cried, grew angry, and many times had to set the book aside as my emotions were just too much. Robin Talley did a superb job.
But the blurb doesn't mention that there's another battle here, another type of prejudice that Sarah must worry about on top of this. The hatred against gays. She's attracted to her own sex and is constantly trying to hide it, has been raised to feel ashamed of her feelings. It's unnatural. Sinful. And things get out of hand with a white girl named Linda, who is also confused.
And this is where the book lost me. I'm totally fine with the lesbian story line, but if you're going to make two girls attracted to each other, make something attractive about them! While Sarah was a sweet and strong soul and I could see why Linda would be attracted to her, I could not--not even for a second--see what Sarah saw in the racist, bigoted, evil Linda. Sarah's attraction to Linda was just completely unbelievable to me. I don't care that Linda changed in the end--too little too late. She was an ugly person still.
And I'm torn as to what I thought about Linda's parts. She was half the narrative. She's ugly and has ugly thoughts. I didn't care to read about her racist, nasty ways. BUT on the other hand, I admire the way the author tackled this: showing us both sides of the race issue. Did I agree with Linda? Not one little bit, but I came to understand that she was merely brainwashed and as she slowly learned to think for herself, she was confused. What she'd been told and what she was seeing were two entirely different things. Her story really goes to show how much our parents influence us.
This is a fun adventure book aimed at middle-grade readers, but I believe adults will get something out of it as well.
We have a fresh-out-of-HS heroinThis is a fun adventure book aimed at middle-grade readers, but I believe adults will get something out of it as well.
We have a fresh-out-of-HS heroine who gets a clothing company to sponsor her and takes off from Canada to Alaska to spend her summer whale-watching. This was very cool and I enjoyed this tremendously. As she flies around, she witnesses things whales do and I was educated by these scenes. I learned a lot, actually, that I didn't know about humpback whales, from their smelly breath to their eating habits.
BUT, Kitty Hawk's whale-watching expedition is interrupted when she takes it upon herself to make a stupid detour. I'm still trying to get my mind around the fact that a relatively smart young women took this risk. Seems implausible to me, honestly. Anyway, her detour leads her to "discover" stolen gold and gets her kidnapped. From this point on she's tied up with a rope, climbing mountains, eating energy bars, and assisting the gold thieves.
Despite my being perturbed over the fact she was so unbelievably dumb in the first place, I came to enjoy the adventure and the entire story of the stolen gold surprised me. The book is fun. The heroine spunky. I'd let a teenage daughter of mine read it.
Annoyances: The heroine constantly talks to a little voice. I was super annoyed by this. Also adding confusion to these conversations she has with her little voice is the fact that her thoughts are in quotation marks, leading me to think at first reading that she said that out loud. Then I would remember she's speaking to that little voice in her head...
This is the third book in the Princess Kandake series. PK is a Nubian warrior/princess/future queen. Her father has chosen her to rule the throne afteThis is the third book in the Princess Kandake series. PK is a Nubian warrior/princess/future queen. Her father has chosen her to rule the throne after his passing, over two brothers. The setting is historical, I'd like to say ancient Egypt times. And in this book, Kandake goes on an adventure to Egypt, a huge task at hand: determine why Egypt is asking for Nubia's help, decide if they really need it, and examine the young prince's ability to rule. Worse comes to worse, she may need to rule Egypt herself one day.
In Egypt, she must stop an uprising, heal the Pharaoh, instruct the prince, and save a young Nubian/Hebrew girl from abuse. All the while she faces Egyptian men's scorn over the fact she has so much power and also argue with idol worshipers that she is NOT Sakhmet, daughter of Ra.
I loved this story. Kandake does not disappoint. Once again she manages to solve everything in the manner of a warrior and future queen and impart some lessons as she does so. And even better, there was very little of Tabiry, her sister in this book. I really really dislike that girl.
Young readers will also get a look into Egyptian and Nubian life and customs. It's a wealth of information imparted in a most entertaining way.
Oooh, did I mention that Kandake chooses her future husband in this one? The romance is minimal and never overshadows the theme of girl power.
I noticed something in this installment, though. Lots of things are repeated over and over, such as her list of suitors and their pros and cons. It was repeated nearly word for word twice in different areas and while I realize this was weighing on her, I already knew one was soothing and one was hard working. The reason this came to annoy me is that it happened quite a bit, the repetition of things/conversations/facts. Also confusing to me was just who solved the problem of the Pharaoh's poisoning? I thought it was Kandake, who tried the poison herself, but later Naomi acts like she has solved it and everyone around her acts like she did too. Again, it felt like repetition. And why did Kandake wait so long to help the Pharaoh?
I thought this was a very engrossing read. I was absolutely hooked from page one. The heroine, though young (this is aimed at young adults), is a stroI thought this was a very engrossing read. I was absolutely hooked from page one. The heroine, though young (this is aimed at young adults), is a strong one. She has been through so much and continues to go through much as the book continues.
Many a young lady would have caved or given up, but this one tries to not only be strong but do the right thing.
Her father, a dictator in an unnamed Arab country, has been killed. Her uncle has taken over. Her mother has taken her and her brother to refuge in America...but in exchange she must work with a possibly shady CIA agent. While her country is torn apart and her home life not much better, Laila also must deal with a new country, new rules, new school, new friends. As we follow Laila, we see American high school in a new light. People making light of bomb threats. People blissfully ignorant of war across the world, of real bombs, of loss.
And then she gets drawn into drama involving her country that she doesn't want to be involved in...just as she gets to enjoying the freedoms American life provides a young woman...sorta. See, she's always torn, and we witness this many times through how she feel at a dance, for example. She discovers the power her body can have, yet at the same time she feels self conscious showing a bit of leg.
Laila must do what she feels is right, even if it means hurting her family or walking away from friends and though in the end I hated her decision, I admired that she had the guts to do it. She made up her mind and followed through, stuck to it.
The author notes are very enlightening. If you didn't know much about Arab Spring before, you'll understand much better after reading this novel. Something else I liked was how this book showed us that...even the most unlikable of people, such as dictators, are capable of loving their children and being loved in return. And yes, we can still love our parents and yet hate who they are to others.
I’ve read many a novel about the Spanish Civil War and more often than not, flamenco is tied into the story in some manner. Compared to these two titlI’ve read many a novel about the Spanish Civil War and more often than not, flamenco is tied into the story in some manner. Compared to these two titles--The Return by Victoria Hislop and Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra, I found this one somewhat lacking and less inspiring as well as informative, but it should be noted those are aimed at adult readers and this one is aimed at the younger crowd. I do think, however, it could have been more clear about the war, the cause, the divisions, and what exactly was going on. Had I not read the previous two mentioned books, I would have had a lot of questions.
In a nutshell: the heroine is half Gypsy and half Spanish. When her mother meets tragic circumstances, she just “happens to” run into her father’s family, whom she’s never known of till now. They are dancers. With just a little training, she becomes a wonderful dancer too. Interspersed in the story is the war; an angry priest, a secret hideout, raids, prison, bombs, though the war itself isn’t explained in great depth.
I appreciated the obstacles the heroine faces: what world is she a part of? Should she settle for being half this or that? Half of herself? Choose a man—and she has many interested. The dancing…are the rules and instruction hurting her passion? What should she do and for what reasons? She has many choices to make and also you could say learns to forgive along the way. Things are not perfect with her father asap.
Also loved the subtle lesson about being in love. Are you in love or do you just love that he loves you?
I always appreciate any story that preaches women's rights and/or equality, but I'm not a fan of things that I can't quite grasp/believe. That's why yI always appreciate any story that preaches women's rights and/or equality, but I'm not a fan of things that I can't quite grasp/believe. That's why you never find me reading fantasy and I've never touched a Harry Potter book. I like realistic.
There were too many..."I just don't buy this..." and "REALLY? How convenient.." moments for me to enjoy this tale. A fifteen-year-old girl is BFF with a 34-year-old old Susan B. Anthony? They really had that much wonderful stuff to discuss with that particular age difference? I could see if it was a twenty-year-old, but fifteen?
And back then, trips via ship took months at least. I do not believe this chick hid herself in her dad's closet for that long without being seen/suspected. I mean, she jumps out and eats his leftover food, uses his bathroom...and always managed to hide in time and nobody ever says, "Well, I could swear I left two apples here, not just one..." or "My towel is wet and it smells funny in here.."
I do, however, think this book is fine for its intended age group and perhaps young girls who love fantasy...cause I'd label it fantasy before I'd label it historical fiction. It's just not plausible....more
This is truly a unique premise. Two teenagers, one Iraqi, one American...he believes his dad was killed by an Iraqi terrorist during the war. She saw This is truly a unique premise. Two teenagers, one Iraqi, one American...he believes his dad was killed by an Iraqi terrorist during the war. She saw her father gunned down by an American soldier...
Now imagine those two falling for each other despite their prejudices for each other's people...yea.
I applaud Beth Fred for a unique idea well done. Throughout the story, we're reminded in subtle ways how quick and how wrong we are to judge others based on where they come from, what they wear, how they look.
I also appreciated the theme about how just because we see it on TV, we are not experts on another group of people/culture.
Mirriam hates American soldiers. At first, Caleb hates Iraqis. He wants to enlist, head over there, and take revenge for his father's death, but he has to realize not all Iraqis are bad or terrorists.
Mirriam sort of comes across as a female dog. She's rude and abrasive, but at the same time I shook my head at her, my lips would also turn up at the corners. Caleb, I had a harder time coming to like. He's the typical jock in the beginning--a playboy who expects women to fall at his feet and a douche who agrees to play with girls' hearts for the sake of a bet...but then fate changes his life real fast and it was interesting watching him change his perspective and attitude as the carpet got pulled out from under him.
One of my quibbles is the car scene. It was weak. I'm purposely trying to be vague here as I'm not sure if this scene would be considered a spoiler or not. It comes perhaps halfway into the book. But the lack of details about the medical affliction....is something broken? Did they do any surgery? Did he just lay there in a bed for 35 minutes? What exactly is wrong here? The author obviously did her research about the military, so I wonder why so little was done for the medical aspect/hospital stuff. Throughout the novel, I kept wondering what exactly was wrong with the guy. I'm a stickler for details such as that.
My other quibble is...I was disappointed that in the end, it didn't feel like Mirriam had come to respect any American soldiers. She was still very anti-American and as a military wife, this bothered me. I respect that there is indeed some truth in this:
"...at the end of the day, they're both kids our age with weaponry supplied by some old rich fat man with a belief that what they're doing is right."
But Mirriam's total lack of sympathy for the American soldier...made her no better than the kids calling her a raghead. Not all Iraqis are bad and while there will be some bad apples in the military, not all soldiers are bad either. While Caleb's character evolved to show this, Mirriam's didn't.
As I "close" the last page of this book, I'm left with a variety of thoughts roiling in my head...thoughts about how some behavior seems to be inheritAs I "close" the last page of this book, I'm left with a variety of thoughts roiling in my head...thoughts about how some behavior seems to be inherited...how sometimes those who seem evil are really the most miserable of all of us, and perhaps they need our pity more than we realize.
There's no major conflict/plot to this book, no mystery. It's more of a psychological story as we read about a young girl in Finland during the war. Now, this is in a historical setting: the forties and fifties mostly, but it's not about history. Folks who don't care for historical fiction should not be deterred. It's a story that could very well take place now, albeit more difficultly, with the children's services now available to people.
It's a girl whose mother just hates her. For reasons unknown. The girl is subjected to emotional torture and abuse day after day, told she's ugly, good for nothing, locked in closets, neglected, unloved, while her brother receives all the adoring attention. Why does her mother hate her so?? It's never made clear. How does a mother loathe one child but adore the other? I don't know. Jealousy?
The novel goes on to show the girl growing up into a needy young woman. She very slowly starts becoming her mother, drowning herself in a bottle of wine at the slightest hurdle. The man doesn't call when he says he will. Drown in a bottle and cry. (Though in her defense, the man was annoying. One minute he's all "you're too young for me" and then next he can't leave her alone. I mean, he knew how young she was was when he first asked her out. Quit leading the girl on. Jackass.)
But the heroine rises above it. She gets therapy and becomes a counselor herself--counseling those with alcohol addiction. She becomes a loving mother, breaking the cycle.
The heroine has blindness in one eye and a "rolling" eyeball for much of the book. This causes a whole 'nother set of problems. As strange as this will sound, I was fascinated by these parts of the story: by the surgeries, the techniques, the struggles with the disability. I felt this aspect of the book was very well done.
As I said above, the book made me think long and hard about behavior patterns and it made me take a long figurative look at cruel people in my own life. In the past I would look at those people and just think they were evil bastards...but now I sit here and wonder what's made them that way. By the time I read the last page of this book, I actually felt sorry for the evil mother. There was a lot going on there, a lot that made her the way she was. I mean, seriously, in the end, who had the most miserable life? The one who made others' lives hell, or the one who learns to leave it all behind?
This is a pretty good book aimed at teenagers, but will be enjoyed by adults as well. It's a unique story line involving a camp that supports forest fThis is a pretty good book aimed at teenagers, but will be enjoyed by adults as well. It's a unique story line involving a camp that supports forest fire fighters and two girls in the middle of 300 men.
It's an eye-opening look at what goes on behind the scenes in the forest. The girl are supposed to be digging holes to check for possible septic tanks, but being federal employees, they can be reassigned at anytime--and they are--to cook for the fire fighters in the base camp.
There's a horrible boss who makes derogatory comments, tension as the girls try to live without doors that lock and windows in showers, fledgling romances, problems with bears, and meanwhile, someone keeps setting fires...and the lighter left behind at the scene points to Kerry's friend and partner, Yvette.
I learned a lot about the Canadian wilderness and how things are done. There was also some tension over the fact Kerry's love interest is a Canadian Indian. It was a very suspenseful read and I read it a day. It's hard to put down. It's engrossing.
My quibbles are with development. I think some things could have been hashed out a bit more. Kerry's romance with Aubrey...when exactly did that happen? They meet, she thinks about him, and suddenly, he's her boyfriend. Yvette's character was also a bit bi-polar. She goes from the girl taking meticulous records and demanding overtime pay to the girl who doesn't care if a cat is kicked across the room. When did she change and why? She went from kick-a** to "Let's hush up about it."
Big thumbs up to the author for tackling a very "sensitive" subject in the YA world...actually, two subjects: sexual abuse and sexuality.
Parmita is atBig thumbs up to the author for tackling a very "sensitive" subject in the YA world...actually, two subjects: sexual abuse and sexuality.
Parmita is at a special sports-oriented school in Canada. Though months from graduating high school, she's already living away from her parents, with a family near the school, sort of like an exchange student program but there is no exchange.
By day she plays soccer and tries to avoid her very hands-on coach, by night she battles with the growing attraction to her best girl friend. Nobody knows she's a lesbian.
Long story short, the coach does some inappropriate things and lays it out like this: if Parm tells, the coach will make sure she doesn't go to Nationals (a big deal) and will say it was all mutual (it wasn't.)
Parm being a young girl who hasn't yet "come out" of the closet yet is faced with some really tough choices. I fell this is an important story. Many young people face stuff like this and sadly, out of shame or fear, won't speak up. This enables people in positions of power to continue abusing others, something Parm realizes. But just when she decides to take action, someone else does it for her.
Again, I appreciated the lessons in this book and the fact it brings awareness to a serious problem, not only sexual abuse, but a teenager's fear of "coming out". What I didn't like: 1. The story was real quick in the telling. It bypassed descriptions and emotions much of the time just to lay the story quickly on the page. Don't tell me Parmita sits there and cries, tell me what she is feeling deep inside, especially after the social network thing. WOW. I felt that warranted more emotions than we were given. 2. There was no dawning awareness of her sexuality. I'm not sure when that happened. I wanted to know when she realized she was a lesbian, what that realization was like. 3. There was a beautiful opportunity here to show the Christian community should practice "tolerance" of others. I don't like the outcome with her billet/exchange family. Perfect opp was there and passed over, to educate the family....more
I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I was just surprised by how very young it comes across. I expected that because the heroine is sixteen or nearI didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I was just surprised by how very young it comes across. I expected that because the heroine is sixteen or nearly sixteen, it would have a tone of a sixteen-year-old. It felt more like an eleven or twelve-year-old, and perhaps this was done because that's the age group it's aimed at...but with the girls her age around her getting married or becoming prostitutes, the fact she was still running around in the woods playing "hunt" was weird. Back then, kids grew up fast, had more responsibilities, so I was surprised by this.
The mystery is pretty cool, what there is of it. She witnesses a possible crime--or the makings of it, and finds some gold stashed away that ends up going missing. A dumb mistake on her part leads to her father being arrested and she must trace the origins of a mysterious brooch to find whodunit.
Immersed with this is the fact she is half-Indian, half-Scottish, and sorta becoming interested in a Chinese boy. I don't have to tell you the difficulties that would have arose with this back then.
There are also Native American customs thrown in. And this leads me to my next quibble: the story got off track for too long. While the mystery intrigued me, around the 50% mark it went off track for so long, I grew bored and it began to lose me. It went to her NA family, customs, small pox, town life...and I was like, "Wait a minute...let's get on with it. I want to know whodunit."
Third, lots of things were far too predictable. I saw so many things coming way before they officially did: the spyglass, the stones...while the heroine was trying to figure out what the stones were, I immediately made the connection, as soon as the words were spoken. Some things were just too obvious to me. This detracted from my enjoyment; however, one must keep in mind this is aimed at younger readers.
I find this to be a pretty interesting book. I didn't know there was such a thing as a catch rider: a person that can just show up and ride folks' horI find this to be a pretty interesting book. I didn't know there was such a thing as a catch rider: a person that can just show up and ride folks' horses for them, make em look good in competitions.
That's all the heroine wants to be. She fourteen and she's had a rough life. Her father is dead, her mother is with a deadbeat abusive man, her uncle is a drunk, she's dirt-poor, and nobody is really looking after her. She's even driving herself around when it's illegal.
She can ride anything with four legs, it seems.
I love how this book showed us riding isn't necessarily about the best training or whatever it is fancy people's money can buy. Riding comes from practice and grit, and this heroine has a lot of that.