Reviews

Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown

Written in verse Hugging the Rock portrays the story of
Rachel - a young girl who has just been abandoned by her
mother. Granted her father - whom her mother called 'the
rock' - someone who always does the right thing - is still
in the picture. He steps up to take care of her but things
aren't the same. At first to Rachel, he's distant and she's
unable to read how he really feels about her mother leaving.
She blames him for her mother's departure -thinking maybe he
was a bad husband or that he kicked her out. Then She blames
herself - thinking maybe if she had been a better daughter
her mother wouldn't have left.

Slowly, as they learn to live without Mom, Rachel and her
father become closer and Rachel learns some things she never
knew: like how her mother was bi-polar and how she never
wanted to be tied down with a husband or child in the first
place.
The book leaves us with Rachel and her father alone and
doing well without her mother and Rachel feeling her mother
was right. Her father is a rock and rocks are good to have
around.

Having someone close to me with a mental disability myself,
I found the storyline of her mother being bi-polar and the
descriptions of her mood-swings very true to fact. The
reactions of Rachel and her dad were also right on the mark.

Susan Taylor Brown writes in strong verse - not adding
anything that would drag down the story but at the same time
showing us the entire story in a few words.

I did feel at times Rachel's voice wasn't as strong as other
times, and in some parts it was hard to tell how old she was
by the language she used. But overall she was a strong main
character. I cried with her, laughed with her and cheered
with her.

Reluctant readers will pick it up because of the blank space
involved with verse and the story and main character is
strong enough to keep them reading.

A great read all in all. I recommend this book to anyone
over nine - especially those children dealing with either
parental abandonment or a loved one with mental
disabilities.

Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost by Corneila
Funke

Tom is a timid kid who's afraid to go down in his cellar -
for good reason. It's haunted. His older sister Lola though
doesn't see the ghost Tom sees and teases him. With the
help of an eccentric ghost hunter, Hetty Hyssop, Tom
tackles the ghost in his cellar. He soon finds out the
ghost - Hugo - has nowhere else to go because he has been
thrown out of his villa by a bigger badder ghost - an
Incredibly Revolting Ghost or IRG. With Hetty's help Tom
and Hugo enter the villa - meet the villa's owner Mr.
Lovely and the four of them rid the villa of the IRG.

This book was a little disappointing for me. Not to say
that it wasn't good. It is. I just wasn't up to the
greatness of the Thief Lord or the other novels of Funke's
that I've read. It could very well have been in the
translation but there were several times I put the book
down to do something and didn't feel the need to pick it
back up to continue reading (though obviously I did).

The main character Tom is likeable enough and near the end
I found myself routing for him to overcome the ghosts but I
didn't really care either way. I think I would have enjoyed
it more had he been able to do more for himself instead of
relying on adults to do it for him. Although he solved the
conflict he had with Lola, he wasn't the one to devise the
plan to catch the IRG. The plan was thought up by Hetty
Hyssop (whom I rather enjoyed, but she too didn't seem
whole as a character).

The story itself was humorous enough but again, I was
disappointed that it wasn't laugh out loud funny as I was
expecting it to be. Overall, it was an enjoyable-light read
and even though I had some problems with it I'd still
recommend it to young children who like scary but not too
scary.

Ida B by Katherine Hannigan

Home-schooled, Ida B Applewood has everything any child
would want - two loving parents and an abundance of time to
play and explore her father's acreage. Highly in-tuned with
nature, Ida spends her days talking to trees and the brook
that ran through the family's land. Her world is shattered
when her mother falls ill and enters cancer treatment. Some
of her family's acreage is sold and Ida B is forced into a
school system she hates. Angry and betrayed Ida B builds
walls and plans to hate everything and everyone around her.
Slowly a caring fourth grade teacher tears down her walls
and helps Ida B open up to the others around her again. She
begins to heal and accept the changes in her life.

Katherine Hannigan creates a strong character with a strong
voice in Ida B. Although, because of her home schooling and
the care of her parents she seems older than a fourth
grader her voice is even and deliberate. Her quirks and
stubbornness to accept change makes Ida B a character to
fall in love with.

Highly recommended.