Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart

Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart
By Jennifer Moore

Daniel Burton is sent to New South Wales as a convict--but when he arrives, he's pardoned and given the chance to become a landowner instead.He is grateful for his fresh start and is determined to make the most of it. He is intrigued by his neighbor, Sarah Whitaker, who arrived in Australia as a child and has become a successful businesswoman on her own. She seems a constant contradiction. While she has a strong dislike for the native people and convicts, believing them incapable of truly changing, Daniel also sees more in her--but can their fledgling feelings survive the truth of Daniel's background?

I think what I like most about Jennifer Moore's books is that she takes a familiar time period (Regency era) and brings in a different location. It's so interesting to see what life was like in other parts of the world during that era. I also liked seeing how Sarah had become who she was--and also how she began to change. Another great book from Jennifer Moore.

4 stars.

 I read a copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Now

Now

By Morris Gleitzman

Henry Holt, 2012. 184 pgs. Middle grade/teen fiction

Summary: 

Zelda has recently been sent to live with her grandfather, Felix, while her parents, both doctors, go to Darfur to offer their medical expertise there. Zelda was named for Felix's best friend, who died as a young girl in the Holocaust. Now Zelda-the-granddaughter is trying to be as brave as her namesake and to bring happiness into her grandfather's life. However, she comes to realize that Felix's story and his emotions are still very much influenced by the first Zelda, and both Felix and granddaughter Zelda find themselves facing the past in order to have a future.

 Review:

This follow-up book to Once and Then is just as haunting as the others; it has the same elements of hope and hurt and loss and love that make the others utterly unforgettable. Having fallen so much in love with Felix in the other books, which are from his point of view as a child, I was a little worried to switch narrators now, but I loved granddaughter Zelda, too. Gleitzman captures the complexity and simplicity of childhood beautifully, showing that innocent way of looking at life juxtaposed with insights and thoughts that adults often never manage to come up with. I really liked how he gave readers the chance to see how 70 years later, Felix still had a lot of damage and also related that to Zelda's present as she's being bullied. There are lot of books about the Holocaust out there, but I think this series is the cream of the crop. With unforgettable narrators, the pure voices of children facing the hardships of life, these books are simply a work of art that will reach inside your soul and touch you in a way that only a few books can.

5 stars (for the whole series). Clean read.

Under Dogs

Under Dogs
By Markus Zusak
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011. 499 pgs. Teen fiction

This is a 3-in-1 version of Markus Zusak's earliest works, The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, and Getting the Girl.

In The Underdog, we meet Cameron Wolfe and his older brother Ruben, lovable losers living in Australia, doing not much more than disappointing their parents and older siblings, and even themselves, as they can't manage to follow through on any of their mischievous plans.

In Fighting Ruben Wolfe, the two brothers are offered a chance to be amateur boxers and they both agree, although Ruben is the better fighter. Cameron, still aching to become something more, doesn't know if he'll ever be able to get out of his brother's shadow.

In Getting the Girl, Cameron, who has always longed for love, finally finds it--with Ruben's ex-girlfriend, something that forces Cameron to figure out who he is and what he's willing to fight for.

Ah, Cameron. He's a doll of a narrator. I love getting to know him and watching this teenager find himself and realize that he isn't a loser, that he's more than just a poor, dirty nobody. As can be expected of any of Zusak's writings, you just get carried away in the style and the word choices. The books do get a little raunchy, but there's also that poetic sort of prose that makes Zusak so delightful.

4.5 stars.