|
ADAM AND EVE AND PINCH-ME
Julie Johnston
Reviewed by Meredith MacKeen
Volume 22 Number 4
This story of the maturing of a foster girl is heart warming and will appeal as a read-aloud to junior high school students. Sara Moone, a foster girl of fifteen, arrives at a new home in the country after having stayed at so many that she has lost track. She arrives to meet the family of other foster children: little Josh, aged four, who clings desperately to her, Nick, a vicious bully, and taciturn Hud and talkative Ma. Steadfastly, she resolves to quit school and move up north on her sixteenth birthday, the day of decision for her. However, in the course of her stay, Sara types the manuscript of a writer and meets a woman who is searching for her lost daughter. While she had learnt to f reeze her emotions, except to type some responses on to the computer, the love and support Sara receives from this family cause her to celebrate her birthday "feeling well and alive and glad of it." Julie Johnston has created a mature, thoughtful character who responds to love the way teachers and social workers always dream. This is an up-beat story that is bound to pull at the heart strings. My only reservation is that the foster children I have met have been more severely damaged than Sara. Life would seem to be more complicated. I would like to hope that Johnston's dream was possible. This book is certainly a worthwhile story to read. Meredith MacKeen is a teacher-librarian at Souris Regional High School in Souris, Prince Edward Island
The materials in this archive are copyright © The Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission Copyright information for reviewers
|
