Rescue of real treasure...is this how it happened?

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

I first read this when 9 or 10 years old. 

Trust me...many decades in the past!

I could remember having loved this book!

Some 50 years later I still loved it!

I can understand how a child would adore this book...

the children get to fully participate in this covert operation

and without them, the gold would have been confiscated by the Nazi regime and spent to support Hitler's regime 

and military campaign for world dominance.

How's that for a story? :)

Although it is known for certain that over $9,000,000 worth of gold bullion was delivered to the U.S. by Norwegians about a year following the outbreak of World War II, there has never been any proof located as to how this gold was 'rescued.'

Ms. McSwigan chose to fictionalize one of the possible scenarios talked about--

that Norwegian boys and girls had smuggled the gold 

past armed Nazi guards to save it from Hitler! 

Could anything be more exciting or awe-inspiring to children than risking their lives and accomplishing something adults alone could not manage? Of course not!

The book begins with Peter's uncle, Victor Lundstrum, not spending time with Peter and his friends as he usually did. Peter knew he had returned from one of his fishing expeditions, because he had seen him...but why didn't he come to visit and share stories of adventure?

Peter's father works for the bank and is "very worried" about something and begins leaving the house at night. Peter's uncle Victor is inexplicably still nowhere to be found. But seemingly all the citizens were involved in this elaborate deception. 

Although the Nazis try to reopen the school and prevent the children from sledding each and every day, they are prevented from doing so by the outbreak of an unidentifiable illness of epidemic proportions, so that school must remain closed and the 'older' children (who remarkably seem immune to this disease) can continue with their sled riding and snowman building.

Although the Nazis try to reopen the school and prevent the children from sledding each and every day, they are prevented from doing so by the outbreak of an unidentifiable illness of epidemic proportions, so that school must remain closed and the 'older' children (who remarkably seem immune to this disease) can continue with their sled riding and snowman building. 

It is very exciting! Peter becomes a prisoner and one of the soldiers proves his innocence as a conscripted Pole by effecting Peter's rescue. Though Peter is unable to return home...

I can't wait to see what my grandchildren think of this one!

Have you read it or heard of this smuggling escapade?

I love the fact that McSwigan chose to fictionalize the story in this way, 
making the children true heroes!

A powerful historical fiction debut! Part II--The Big City

Jam on the Vine by 

Lashonda Katrice Barnett

One of the best historical fiction novels I've read!
In case you missed it, here is the first part of my review!
(Yes, there was so much I felt needed to be said, there are two postings for this review!)

This is an amazing story of brave people, but especially brave young black females at a time when prejudice and discrimination were not only overlooked, but actually condoned.

I find it unbelievable that this is Ms. Barnett's first novel! 
I predict Ms. Barnett has a great future ahead as a writer! 
And I love love love this cover image! 

This book encompasses so very much that discussion could be endless! There were about 12 people at the University Book Club meeting when this was discussed, and all said without exception that this book introduced them to at least one new historical fact of which they were totally unaware... That is amazing, considering the diversity among this group! It speaks to the tenacity of Barnett's comprehensive and thorough research and broad coverage of the time.

For me--I had no idea of 'the Red Summer of 1919,' during which there was an outbreak of lynchings and race riots across the Midwest. Born and raised in the Midwest and had never heard of this in my nearly 60 years of life. Sad. Exactly what are we teaching and learning of our own history? We should know about such things so we can make sure it is never repeated! We cannot be aware if we are uninformed! 

Ivoe is luckier than most young black females--able to attend Willetson Collegiate and Normal Institute in Austin. Advice from her family as she prepares to embark upon this adventure... Her older brother, Timbo, tells her of something he observed on a Florida beach years ago:
"You can't see the end lessen you cut it down. The sun can't wither it, fire can't burn it, and moss can't cling to it. When a strong wind come, it just bends--lays all its fans out till the wind lets up. You remind me of that cabbage palm, Ivoe. You might have to bend a little, but you ain't never gonna break." That's how it was with Timbo. Lord knows he could act foolish and ornery, but whenever her brother said she could do something, she believed him. (82)
My immediate thought was that Timbo was a bit of a writer himself! 
Momma waited by the tracks at the train depot, a bunch of yellow primroses in her hand. "Probably wilt on the train in all this heat. You be in my thoughts much longer." She hugged her tight and whispered, "Baby you going places I didn't have sense enough to dream about." (83)
All I could think of in regard to Lemon's comment was that at least this next generation, her own children, had that chance to dream...whereas Lemon's generation had as its main goal nothing more or less than survival...and not just in can economic, self-supporting sense...

In Berdis Peets Ivoe recognized the flare of heroines she had met in her literary solitude....Passion for music gave Berdis an original life. In this way, she reminded Ivoe of all the women she loved--her mother, Aunt May-Belle, Miss Stokes--each had certain talent that seemed to dictate her womanhood. (88)
At a school convocation where Berdis was to play a Schumann composition, she substituted "Mister Tom Turpin's 'Buffalo Rag'...
"I lost a week in the practice room on account of devising my own program, but it was worth it....I would know very little that our people have accomplished in the ways of music, poetry, literature, if I had not found it out for myself. I suppose Willetson is like every other institution for learning in America. Even when the teacher is colored, don't expect to be told anything worthwhile about yourself. Most teachers here are white and they love to hear about how great they are. Can't shut them up on talking about it neither, as if they made the world on their own. Makes my ass hurt....If you're not careful, they'll teach you to despise yourself. And you can't do nothing worthwhile unless you feel good about yourself." (87)
And, that, in my opinion, is exactly where our educational system overall fails many, if not most, students... And "makes my ass hurt"! Kills me! So perfect! 
  Berdis loved it when Ivoe laughed all deep down in herself. "What's got you so tickled?"
  "Momma always told me not to show no man all my teeth. She said you can't smile at them too wide 'cause then they know they got you. She didn't say nothing about showing my teeth to a woman." 
  Berdis pulled Ivoe close enough to kiss. "I got you?" she said, too serious.
  "Yeah. You got me." (97)
Though unfortunately, this relationship didn't stand the test of time...and Berdis became bitter...with disastrous results. 

Writing did not come easily to Ivoe...
How vast the gulf between consuming words and making them! Reading had always enlivened Ivoe but writing was death. Where she had cherished books for their company, writing was a lonely endeavor she was not suited for. Her first contributions to the Herald were written in her habitual passive voice. "On the way to progress, we make self-discoveries," Miss Durden encouraged. For Ivoe, the blank page was a looking glass. In writing she came face-to-face with her truest self. She could speak her mind without worrying about who it offended. She was a gardener like her mother, planting seed for thought in a reader's mind. Like Papa she forged the right word on the anvil of her mind." (94) 
Ms. Barnett's writing...well, simply wonderful! While at dinner at Miss Durden's, Ivoe asks...
  "My articles...what begs improvement?"
  "You're coming along." As usual, the teacher was sparing with compliments, having seen how they snuffed out potential greatness. "You know, a sentence is like a race. You can't possibly win it unless you end as strong as you began. Good journalists understand that the last word is as important as the first." (103)
I was one of the few book club members for whom this rang so true...an encouraging teacher trying to avoid creating complacency in her student. It was so very obvious to me that Miss Durden was attracted to Ivoe as more than just teacher-student...
  Ivoe dallied at the open front door where the air was sweet like honeysuckle, and Miss Durden drew her into a tight embrace, touching the knot of her scarf in a way that prompted Ivoe to look her in the eye.
  "Father up in heaven. It's what's inside that makes you shine, girl." (103)

Ivoe returns to Little Tunis an educated woman, with big plans for a journalistic career, but discovers there is still very little opportunity for her employment, and virtually none using her journalistic skills. Eventually, the family moves to the city, only to become disillusioned as were so many... Ivoe and Ova Durden, her former teacher, visit each other regularly throughout the ensuing years, and eventually become lovers and found Jam on the Vine, the first female-run African American newspaper, but their lives are by no means calm and complacent. Ivoe and her brother Timbo, Ova, and many others risk their lives to protest and bring voice to the oppressed during the 'Red Summer' of 1919 and beyond. 

As Ivoe overhears two black women discussing Jam,
  Ivoe recognized the brand of negritude on display. To her, theirs was the worst kind of race pride: it ended when complaining ceased yet did nothing to propel the race forward. They gave the white man and his evils over to Jesus and and prayed for things they themselves might remedy, while Jim Crow stood with his foot on their necks. (251)
  Worse yet were the ones who loved to tell you how good God was while they made do with as little as one could imagine. Colored religion was the white man's most clever tactic yet. A new form of Uncle Tomming. It burned Ivoe up. Lord, woe is me--instead of pulling together and doing something to change the course of their lives... (123) 
I had never before read such a condemnation of "Christianity" with regard to the oppressed, but for me, it certainly rang true--there is a point at which a person must help themselves or nothing will change. Are "good Christians" simply to believe that life is as it should be and there is no hope of social evolution for the better? When considered from Ivoe's perspective, it seems nothing more or less than a passive acceptance of injustice...a way to confirm and perpetuate oppression of the oppressed. But I digress...

Heart-stopping. There were times when I scrunched my eyes shut while reading the last third or so of this book. The suspense. Wondering if this would be the time one of these characters would be killed for their activism and fight for justice. 
He doused her until the bottle was empty and she had accepted her fate. He would set a match to her, sweep up the remains or leave them to the mice....So this was the helplessness and regret Papa had also felt. (244)
And I always feel as if that sense of 'helplessness' is what defeats people most. In this time, kidnappings and killings were 'accepted' as part of the risk for protesters. And those perpetrating such acts? They could well be the very same 'public servants' paid to protect the citizenry! Admittedly, there is part of me that wonders just how far we have really come in preventing such happenings... 

The Jam offices are closed by legal injunction and Ivoe is jailed. As the guard delivers food to her:
  "Gonna get your people in a world of trouble," the grim-faced guard said to Ivoe upon delivery of a sandwich and glass of water.
  "We have always lived in a world of trouble. Kindly take back your tray. I do not wish to attract vermin."  (286)
The next morning she looked out her cell window and drew a shuddering breath, stunned by what she saw. Across the street, a quiet mob crowded the sidewalk. She craned her neck to see how far the human chain extended--beyond the end of this block into the next. In the blustering cold, shoulder to shoulder, they began to sway to a minor cadence as their voices swelled with song.
          Heavy load, heavy load, 
          Don't you know God's gonna lighten up your heavy load.
          Heavy load, heavy load,
          God's gonna lighten up your heavy load.
  The language of grieving never had words; the human heart does not speak but sings its sorrow. Ivoe heard theirs now, a plaintive refrain sifting through her soul....Ona had felt something that Ivoe didn't or couldn't until now: community. Everybody's little bit of goodness pooled together to lift someone higher. (287-88)

For [Ivoe], life in France was kinder, but no matter where she was in the world, her race and her gender would work against her. (310)

She needed all the support she could get--names and addresses for every black politician in the country, from alderman to senator, on a clipboard within reach. They were up against a mighty bear, but each cell door flung open in the name of justice was an arrow in his tough skin. (316)

Here is a great NPR Interview with the author. 

(I have mentioned my fascination with NPR before, right?) :)

If you haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend it!

An absolute favorite of mine--EVER!

A powerful historical fiction debut! Part I--Little Tunis

Jam on the Vine by 

Lashonda Katrice Barnett

One of the best historical fiction novels I've read!

This is an amazing story of brave people, but especially brave young black females at a time when prejudice and discrimination were not only overlooked, but actually condoned.

I find it unbelievable that this is Ms. Barnett's first novel! 
I predict Ms. Barnett has a great future ahead as a writer! 
And I love love love this cover image! 

This book not only contains historically accurate information, but is a work of art in characterization, relationships, and atmosphere. It is so very much more than the story of the founding of the first female-run African American newspaper, Jam on the Vine. So very much more...

After May-Belle, Papa, and them, Ivoe loved books best. Books were a friend to anyone who opened them. Blowing a whirligig to make the sails go 'round or talking up a storm to a corn-husk doll was all right for passing the time, but you never went anywhere new or met anyone special like you did in the pages of a book. (4)
Yes, books hold no prejudice! :) They are open to anyone's interpretation! As a child it was damn near impossible for Ivoe to obtain books, or any other printed material, to read. 

  "Momma, it's so hot the cows not mooing and the chickens not clucking," Ivoe said, 
  wanting to melt the worry that made her mother hard as tack candy. (9)
That! That is language that literally transports a reader to another time and location! 

Ennis, Ivoe's father, who is a metalsmith, muses to himself as the skin on his arm blisters from an accidental burn:
  In the race between what he could give his family and what they needed, need always 
won. Truth like that stared you down. More than hurt you, it numbed you--even to a 
hungry flame. (24)
I could feel Ennis' pain with these words...pain and despair...but so much deeper than just the physical body, into his own psyche, his soul, any self-confidence he had...

James, a colored man who had made good with his own lumber business, establishing it in the same locale as the 'white' lumber business and moving his family, though Ennis and others tried to warn him about encroaching upon the whites in their own territory, both James and his son were beaten and then shot to death. Lemon, Ivoe's momma, talks with Ennis afterward:
  And you wonder why I don't want you building me nothing. What I want a little shack 
for? Or even a stand? White folks ain't ready to see colored folk have nothing of they 
own. No, sir. I'll keep right on selling my jams from my kitchen 'cause soon as they see 
you doing all right--doing for yours like they do for theirs--they go and do something 
like this. Opening a business is one thing, but to leave Little Tunis? You know, Ennis, I 
believe if James had kept his family down here he would still be with us. That was 
mistake number one--leaving Little Tunis.
  "Naw, mistake number one was being born colored." (36)
And this is what stabs me through the heart every time--some must sacrifice themselves in order to initiate social change. Why? Why must it be death and destruction that only grabs the attention of those who are so prejudiced? *Shakin' my head...*

Then the KKK burn down the colored schoolhouse:
  Ivoe listened with her classmates before a heap of charred wood. She tried to understand, but like jamming the wrong puzzle piece into an almost-finished puzzle, she couldn't make the picture in her mind fit with Miss Stokes's words. Why would anyone want to burn down a schoolhouse whose benches left your behind full of splinters and none of the inkwells ever saw a drop of ink? (36-37)
Isn't that the truth? Though Miss Stokes loses no time in campaigning for help to reestablish a school, realizing that students will be lost without it...such a smart women, quite foresighted. 
  "Those not in trouble are in the fields. Parents are starting to depend on the bit of money the little ones bring in. I mean to get the night school running as soon as I can before I lose them all to sharecropping." (41)
Seems unreal to me that you had to worry about children being put to work! But it was true! Hence the passage of child labor laws. 

There is so much to this book I feel as if I could write five blog posts discussing it! And I'm sure the material is there for at least that much! I will try to condense... Although I have already decided this is Part 1 of 2 posts for the complete review! 

As a youngster, Ivoe wins a trip to Austin with a letter she addressed to the President of the United States and thus began her devotion to writing and led to her career as a journalist. She always had teachers who worked hard at developing her talents: Miss Stokes in Little Tunis and Ona at Willetson. It is so often teachers who help encourage children to develop their talents! 

Additionally, this book bore out to me in a large way the immense diversity among U.S.-bound immigrants. For some reason, and probably just due to my own ignorance and limited scope of travel, I rarely consider that Muslims were an active immigrant population throughout this country's history, just as were any other "group" of people. And Ivoe's mother, Lemon, is a Muslim, married to a black East Texan. Diversity is the underpinning of this book and much of what makes it so compelling. 

"Sometimes it takes generations for opportunity to come, but if you keep on living, it will show up." (69)
Lemon's summary of 40 years of freedom and the story of Stark moving immigrants in and allowing them to die, be killed, etc. She was listing everything for which she had to be grateful at the time. 

Lemon actually owns the little patch of land where their small cabin sits, including their garden and yard. As a teen/young adult, Ivoe tries to convince her mother to sell out and move with her to [a larger city] for "more opportunity," particularly for Ivoe to apply her journalistic/writing skills. Barnett describes exactly why Lemon wants to retain her land...
  "The Williamses lounged beneath a cornflower-blue sky all afternoon. The chickweed grass, coarse and brilliant green, gave the earth a spongy feel beneath Ivoe, who lay stretched out with the newspaper over her stomach. The branches of a blackjack oak stirred a slight breeze for Roena and Timothy while they played cards in the fleeting twilight. Lemon crossed before Ennis's chair, causing his eyes to light up like stars as he reached out to pat her behind. Irabelle, playing in May-Belle's hair, watched a jaybird flutter away from the fig tree just as Bunk rolled onto his stomach, extending his forepaws on the porch he dusted with a fanning sweep of his tail. For a moment nothing stirred except now and then the call of a screech owl. They didn't have much but this happiness was their own." (74)
I guess this rang so true for me because I am a "country girl" at heart. I was raised in the country and crave the unique calm and quiet connectedness with nature provided by a rural setting just such as this...it really is idyllic to me and I could relate to Lemon's reluctance to give up this bit of peaceful isolation.

For it is just these types of "lazy days," so few and far between for those working hard to scrabble out a living, that can help offset some of the more frustrating and humiliating discriminatory experiences. Such as...a sheriff physically and all but sexually molesting Irabelle, their youngest (and most beautiful) daughter, as the deputy physically restrains Ennis (who must look on helplessly) while in a store in the neighboring town. The stark reality of a black man unable to help a fatally wounded white man, knowing full well that no matter how he might spin the story, he will be blamed for the injuries and/or death of the white man, just because he is...himself, black. Unbelievable to me that he had to choose to watch a man die rather than come to his aid, yet, I could understand this conundrum into which he was pulled by circumstances totally beyond his control...

Have you even heard of this book yet?

It is phenomenal!

The second portion of this review is here! 

Check-In #1 for Women's Classic Literature Event 2016

Elizabeth Gaskell, Jane Austen, Zora Neale Hurston, George Eliot, Rose Wilder Lane, Louisa May Alcott, & Virginia Woolf.

The Classics Club has launched a Women's Classic Literature Event 

to last from October 2015 through December 31, 2016!

Needless to say, the Little House Read-Along fits in with this event just fine!

Join myself, Lynn @ Smoke & Mirrors, and Bex @ An Armchair by the Sea for this year-long month-by-month event. 

You can read NINE books at the reasonable rate of one per month that will all count toward this event! 

I was so excited, I couldn't wait to start the first book, 

Little House in the Big Woods, 

so here are my answers based upon having read the first chapter (pages 1-23) of this classic which is the first installment of this well-known series!!

Question #1: Without revealing spoilers (obviously), describe how the opening of your current read for this event draws you in. 

Is it the language? the suspense? the voice?

Without realizing it, I immediately began comparing this writing with that of Montgomery from my reading of the Green Gable series last year. However, after reading 3-4 pages I very quickly realized two things: (1) this is a much simpler writing style geared to a lower-level reader than that of Montgomery, and (2) I was thrilled that this series of books, which I felt might be too tough for my one granddaughter to read yet, is probably about perfect for her. I am so excited by this latter realization! She will definitely be receiving her own set of these books from "Book Grandma" next month! :)

I agree with Francesca in her review of the whole book that even within these first few pages, the detailed descriptions are what fascinate me. The language is quite simple and the voice is common and immediately draws the reader into an intimate connection. 

Question #2: Why are you compelled to keep reading? 

Well, besides the obvious reason that I am a cohost of this reading event for 2016, I am truly interested in exactly these details of everyday life for such pioneers as the Wilder family. I think this is what makes historical fiction/autobiographical memoir so pertinent--it takes us to a time from which our current world has evolved and can help us each understand at least something from the past a bit better. This can take the form of daily pragmatic details of living in a particular setting and/or time or can include a better understanding for behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs from that time period/location. It just makes for learning in a typically more entertaining format than straight nonfiction writing might provide. Though I have read some absolutely wonderfully written nonfiction in the past...The Big Burn by Timothy Egan, The Wave by Susan Casey, and Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, to name a few.

On to chapter #2! :)

You can join us any time for this Read-Along! 

December Library Checkout

December 2015

A great monthly check-in about Library reading hosted by Shannon of River City Reading!

This month has been another great one for good reads! Though I am not as caught up as I had wished prior to the start of the Little House Read-Along I am cohosting with Bex of An Armchair by the Sea. (But that's okay!) There are currently 11 other readers registered to join us in this event!! YAY!! (Twitter #littlehouseRAL)

Books Read: 

(**Reviews/blog posts can be viewed by clicking on the title. If I have not yet completed a blog post, it will link to my Goodreads review.)

I completed reading these as preparation for the Little House Series Read-Along, cohosted by myself and Bex of An Armchair By The Sea, beginning now! :) I have NEVER read a Wilder book and after participating in Reeder Reads' Green Gables Read-Along last year, I decided reading one of the Wilder books per month would be a great way to read them all during 2016! Then both Bex and I posted on the Classics Club site that we planned to host the same read-along, and a cohosting team was born! Bex's introductory post is here and mine is here! Be sure to register using the link on either of these posts! It is going to be fun! There are already 13 of us committed to this monthly project! And, please, if you wish to only follow along with the reviews/comments, that is also fine. Or if you only wish to read of few of these books and participate for only those months, that is also fine! Whatever works for you, works for us! :) The introductory January posting is here and you can link to your review and/or comment there once you've read the first book, Little House in the Big Woods.

1) West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder to Almanzo Wilder, San Francisco 1915 by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Roger Lea MacBride.

2) On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

3) A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert. A very revealing historical fiction account of Rose Wilder Lane's life and her rather strained relationship with her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Albert is one of my favorite writers!)

Currently Reading: 
Not currently reading any library books. (I keep reminding myself about the #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks challenge!) 

Checked Out, TBR:
Quite an eclectic group, eh? 

1) First Degree by David Rosenfelt
This is the second in his Andy Carpenter series. While I'm anxious to get to it, I am also anxious to read the first installment of the Little House series, Little House in the Big Woods, and am anxious to read further in the Maisie Dobbs series!

2) H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald.
I have read so many bloggers' reviews, all raving about this book, and I couldn't resist and placed it on hold and it has arrived! 

3) Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
I am rather curious. The premise of this book is centered on a kissing contest. He'll need to be a really good author for me to find this engaging... We shall see! :)

Returned Unread:

None. One huge perk to serving on the Board of Trustees is that I never accumulate or owe fines! So I can keep books as long as no one else places a hold on them, with no penalty. :) However, in all fairness I have only taken advantage of this a few times over the past few years! :)

On Hold: 
I currently have none on hold. Though I know that will change with my resumption of daily commuting back and forth to work as of this coming Monday! I will need an audiobook or two, at the very least! 

What have you read from your library lately?

Especially for any young readers, I can highly recommend 

the Vet Volunteers series by Laurie Halse Anderson! 

I read the fifth installment and loved it.

Vet Volunteers by Laurie Halse Anderson

Say Good-Bye

Vet Volunteers #5

by Laurie Halse Anderson

I don't know what my grandchildren will think of this series, 

but I am enthralled with this fifth installment!

I was lucky to purchase this very cheaply at a neighboring library book sale.

I decided to finish out the 12 Book of "Christmas"/December challenge 

(thanks for hosting, Shaina!) by reading some of the children's books I've purchased and wanted to review before sending 

them off to my grandchildren who recently moved away.

Smart move! Now I want to read all of them! 

I realize I may be a bit prejudiced toward such reading materials since for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a veterinarian. What stopped me? Well, it wasn't the academic studies, but the fact that I was literally allergic to each and every fur-bearing animal out there. Though I always had an outside dog as a best buddy while roaming my grandmother's 180-acre farm, I had to be careful about never touching my face after petting an animal, always vigilant about washing my hands as soon as I came inside, etc. (Yes, it was a bore...) And, of course, I was never able to have a pet indoors with me. 

Fortunately, I did discover NAET during adulthood and following treatment can now cohabit with our five rescued felines! :) Naturally, I wish I had been able to do this in childhood, as my life might have been quite different, but we can't relive the past, so I am just grateful for this positive change in my life! 

I wish books such as these had been available to me as a youngster! I would have inhaled them, I'm sure! I found Anderson's writing to be so very skillful. Her characters were well drawn and true to themselves, being both believable and vulnerable. Although there was conflict, each character was able to adjust and cooperate. While the reader can feel sympathy and perhaps empathy for Zoe, we also learn to cheer for her successes regardless of her mother's seeming abandonment.

Zoe was raised the first 12 years of her life in Manhattan, New York, with people hired to do everything for her and her mother. When the TV show in which her mother had a leading role is canceled, her mother feels as if she must move cross-country to California to pursue her acting career. Zoe is then sent to live with her veterinarian grandmother in Maine until her mother can support her once again and bring her to California. Sounds simple...but, of course, it is not so simple for Zoe! Initially Zoe tried to cope by using her imagination:

  At first I dreamed up this fantasy. I would call my long-lost father and go live 

  with him--it would be this wonderful reunion, like straight out of the movies. 

  He'd realize how much he missed me and be thrilled to have me back in his 

  life. Maybe he and Mom would even... (13)

Ah...sounds so familiar. Once in awhile during my own childhood I would create such fantasies regarding my own father, whom I had never met...and never did have the opportunity to meet. I could relate. 

I could also relate to Zoe's attraction to Emma, the one child in the cancer ward who seemed totally unwilling to engage with others. Again, I was reminded how I typically persevere with those who seem disengaged for whatever reason(s). It was gratifying to see that by being honest, Zoe is able to break through Emma's initial resistance. 

Not only do we learn of Zoe's disappointment with her mother, but also her challenges with training Sneakers, a puppy her grandmother has allowed her to adopt. We also see how encouragement and acknowledgement of accomplishments can go a long way. Zoe is bemoaning her lack of ability to train Sneakers, when Jane notes

  He had a really tough beginning--starved and mistreated. All that could have 

  made him a mean or mistrustful dog. But he's not. He's very happy and 

  loving. Part of that's his nature, but part of it's due to how he's been treated. 

  How you've treated him. (103)

Zoe thinks to herself

  I hadn't thought of that. I was beginning to think I was just a big, fat failure 

  when it came to Sneakers. Sure, I'm probably not the best dog trainer. But 

  maybe loving Sneakers is a good start. (103)

Ah...building a relationship from a foundation of love and trust is the key...no matter what that relationship may be.

Initially, I was a bit fearful this series might be rather shallow, or a bit too "Pollyanna-ish," but I needn't have worried. I would highly recommend this series!! There are now 17 books!

Have you read any of these books? 

Or any others written by Laurie Halse Anderson?

I was quite impressed!