Deborah Kent

I found the book exciting and fast paced, an excellent choice for anyone who enjoys children's books. Set in they Wyoming Territory, Lexie McDonald is threatened with being sent to live with an aunt in New York City after the death of her father. For a child in love with the wilds of Wyoming, New York City, even in the days of the Pony Express, is a death sentence. She would join her brother Callum, but he is in hiding after being falsely accused of theft. Lexie decides to "become a boy" and show more ride her beloved pony Cougar following the Pony Express trail to find her brother. The daughter of a Pony Express Station Master and sister of a Pony Rider, the idea is not so far fetched as it would be for any other girl. Along the way Lexie meets friends and encounters dangers that keep the story moving along well. show less

A straightforward, well-researched and compelling, yet thoroughly depressing account of Western civilization's attempts to deal with madness throughout history. If there is any moral to this story, it's that none of the treatments really work all that well, and we still have a long way to go towards curing mental illness and ending the stigma associated with it.

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

This was a book I picked up for free at a book swap. The plot - about a medical and identity crisis rolled together - appealed to me, and I hoped it would be as good as it sounded. The short version of this review: it was.

Poor Rachel's life becomes a living hell when she suffers kidney failure and goes on dialysis. She quits ballet, the love of her life, and feels sluggish and snappy. She deals with her body's "betrayal" (as she puts show more it) very realistically, with tears and anger. She grows over the course of the book as she realizes that she must accept the fact that her life will never be the same. She also must come to grips with her birth mother's identity and reason for giving her up. This struggle also is extremely realistic, and I thought it was very well done.

The only flaw I can find with the book is its pacing: apparently it spans about a year of Rachel's life, starting with when her kidneys fail, but it doesn't feel like it. In fact, time seems to pass rather sporadically with detailed scenes intermingled with statements to the effect of "time passed." The passage of time is a recurring theme throughout the book, as the process of finding Rachel's birth mother takes a really long time. However, this didn't really work for me as sufficient proof: from Rachel's character growth, you would think that only a few months at most have passed.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in what it's like to live after a kidney failure: the food restrictions, the dialysis, the sluggishness, etc. It's also a great story about identity and the difference between biological and adoptive family. It's perfectly fine for younger readers, so you can be comfortable handing this book to anyone whose reading comprehension is up to it. I'm very glad I found this little treasure; it gave me an up-close view of what it's like to suffer kidney failure. I just hope it's the closest look I'll ever get! show less

My 8yo history lover read this for his history lesson on slavery in Colonial America. He really enjoyed it, and seemed to learn a lot from it. I like that it presents a realistic view of slavery (no sugar-coating) in an age-appropriate manner.