| Title | : | Crooked River |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0440421012 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780440421016 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 249 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2005 |
| Awards | : | Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (2008) |
Crooked River Reviews
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this book was ok i dident realy enjoy it because it never realy hooked me and when i was reading it i felt bored and not iterested in the book
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Not the kind of book I would normally read, but it was discussed at work for its historical context. I was hoping for a little more historical depth, but it's probably not fair to expect that from a YA book. The book is a good observation about racism and prejudice, and overcoming it.
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This Historical Fiction book by Shelley Pearsall was quite interesting and enjoyable to read. Rebecca Carver, a 13 year old girl lives in a one room cabin with her Pa, her sisters Laura (age 17) and Mercy (age 3), brothers Lorenzo (age 11) and Amos (age 19), and cousin George (age 21?). As you might expect, living on the edge of the frontier, the settlers of this small community encounter Native Americans quite often. As the story begins the men of the village have arrested a Native American for murder and imprisoned him in the loft of the Carver's cabin until the judge can arrive to hold a trial. Over the course of the next several weeks Rebecca gets to know the Native American quite well as she is the one who brings meals up to him every day. As she comes to know Indian John, the name the villagers have given him, she learns that not everything is quite as it seems. We also meet Peter Kelley, friend of Indian John, and now also his Defense Attorney. As Kelley pays several visits to the Carver house (always when Pa is not around) it appears that Laura is taking a liking to this handsome young man. Will Laura and Peter fall in love? What will happen to Indian John? How will Rebecca's life be different after all of this is over?
An interesting theme that is carried through the entire book is mankind's prejudice against minorities. Two of the most evident ways in which the author shows this are in the way that Pa treats Laura and Rebecca (men vs. women) and how the townspeople think and feel about Indian John and other natives in the area. These feelings are also exhibited towards Peter Kelley. Even though he is a white male he is threatened and verbally abused by others simply because he has chosen to see that Indian John gets a good defense and a fair trial. As I think about this theme it saddens me to know that things are not really any different today. We, humans, are still prejudiced against those who are different than us or whose ways of doing things we don't agree with and/or don't understand.
This is quite an enjoyable book for fans of Historical Fiction and/or Mystery. The author has done a wonderful job of keeping you engaged in the story throughout as she not only gives you insight into the life of the Carver family, but also sprinkled throughout the book are short 1-2 page insights into the thoughts of Indian John. I was quite surprised, and pleased, by the way the story ended for all the main characters, Indian John, Peter Kelley, and Rebecca Carver. To fully understand the history behind this story be sure to read the Author's comments at the conclusion of the book. At 244 pages this should be an easy read in a relatively short period of time. -
The year is 1812, and Rebecca and Laura have lost their mother who died giving birth to their baby sister, Mercy. Since then they’ve had to take over the housekeeping for their demanding father and brothers who give them lots of grief even when they do a good job. Their lives are rarely easy or exciting until the day Rebecca finds the Indian chained in their barn. After she makes a fool of herself over his presence, she finds out that her father and some of the other men have arrested Indian John (or Amik) for murdering a trapper. He’s to remain prisoner until he can be tried. The girls become responsible for his welfare – they have to bring him food and water. He leaves them gifts, and Rebecca – in turn – leaves him gifts of her own. They don’t speak one another’s languages, so they can’t communicate in words, but there doesn’t seem to Rebecca to be anything savage about this supposed savage.
Amik receives a visitor several weeks later – a young, red-haired lawyer by the name of Peter Kelley. Kelley knew Amik when he was a child and after talking to him about the murder he supposedly committed, decides to defend him in the trial. The girls watch the trial and find Kelley’s arguments compelling; they realize that all of the witnesses for the prosecution have lied. But the jury still finds Indian John guilty. Very much demoralized, Rebecca returns home and tries to come up with some way to free Amik before he is hung for a crime he obviously didn’t commit. She goes so far as disguise herself as a boy to sneak into town and to cut the gallows rope, but she’s not sure if she’s cut it enough.
When the moment for the hanging comes, a terrible thunderstorm rolls through town. Just as Amik drops from the gallows, the rope breaks, the storm hits and his body disappears. None of the men can find him. No one knows what happened to him. And then a few months later, the girls receive a message from Amik, letting them know that he is safe and with his family.
Amik and Rebecca tell their stories in alternating voices – Amik, in shorter segments, through story poems, and Rebecca in longer chapters. Amik is revealed to be a gentle and kind soul through his encounters with the girls, while Pa and most of the rest of the townspeople are revealed to be liars who both fear and hate the indigenous peoples they have displaced. An afterward provides some of the historical background for this story. This is a good introductory snapshot of pioneer life and the relations between settlers and Native Americans back in the 1800s. I thought some of the characters were a little one-dimensional, but the historical information was interesting. -
My sister who lives in Cleveland told me about Shelley Pearsall after she met her at an elementary school presentation where Shelley talked to the kids about her books. She showed the kids all of her rejection letters as she tried to get her work published. Shelley writes about Ohio, a state which I am nuts about. As a writer too, I'm always happy to know I am not alone in my struggle to be published. What better reason than those to read a book.
Crooked River is a young adult novel set in 1812 in a settlement in Ohio. The story is told through the eyes of thirteen year old, Rebecca and Indian John who is shackled in the loft of the family's cabin. Her angry and demanding father, Major Carver has charge of the Indian accused of murdering a trapper, while awaiting trial. Her mother died in childbirth. She and her sister, Laura keep the household running and care for their little sister, Mercy. Rebecca is described as the one in the family with the soft heart and without a common language, she befriends Indian John by bringing him small gifts of a feather or acorn along with a bowl of food.
This is a beautifully written story. It is a story of injustice but also one of love and the strength of the human spirit. In each chapter the reader first hears Rebecca's point of view. And then Indian John tells his side of story through gorgeous poetry. The prose and the poetry compliment each other perfectly.
The author has done extensive research which she details at the end of the story. Her dedication to the historical side of this story is what brought it to life. I became a pioneer in Ohio in 1812, alongside Rebecca, gathering eggs, washing clothes, sweeping the dirt floors. Shelley Pearsall has a gift as a writer.
As a reviewer, I never like to reveal too much of the storyline. As a reader, I like the element of surprise. I like to tell a reader about the writing style and if the story is interesting and engaging. Crooked River is full of history and set in a time of change and struggle. And the story is full of emotion that will tug at your heartstrings. You won't want to put it down. -
This book was recommended to me by an eleven-year-old actress and member of the Ojibwe nation in Minnesota. We became acquainted when she joined the cast of a theater-dance fusion work for which I had been commissioned to compose the sound score.
Not surprisingly, the book, a work of historical fiction, is aimed primarily at juvenile audiences. The prose is for the most part simple and direct, short on nuance and layering of meanings. Also, Pearsall's blending of the idiomatic expressions of the 1812 Ohio frontier with more standard English creates inconsistencies of tone that could certainly put off a mature reader.
All that being said, I strongly recommend Crooked River to readers of all ages. Whatever the book's shortcomings, it tells a beautiful story of the moral awakening of two young women amidst the ugliest aspects of European-American westward expansion. Ultimately, the young narrator, Rebecca, in the manner of Huckleberry Finn, realizes that it is worth risking one's very soul to protect an innocent friend. Surely that is a lesson of which we should all be reminded throughout our lives.
I also deeply appreciated Pearsall's choice to have the wrongly accused Ojibwe man tell his side of the story in a verse form based on traditional Ojibwe poetry. The beauty of the Ojibwe language is indeed as Great as the legendary lakes that define the nation's ancestral homelands. To experience even a small glimpse of the great oral traditions of these Original People is to know at the deepest level how horribly those traditions have been misunderstood.
I am deeply grateful to have read this book. To the one who recommended it to me, who, like the story's protagonist, is a brave and independent girl struggling to find her place in a world where she has often been misjudged, I can only say:
Miigwech.
Thank you. -
It took me a while to really get into this book, but after I got to know the main character a little better (when the trial started), I was hooked. Other reviewers have described this book as a mix between Laura Ingals Wilder's Little House books and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. I think this is an apt description, and it probably explains part of why I enjoyed this book so much. Those other titles are some of my all-time favorites!
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I have recently become a HUGE fan of this author. She writes everything from amazing historical fiction to contemporary fiction, to stories based on current, real-life events. I first became aware of her when her book ALL OF THE ABOVE showed up on the Maud Hart Lovelace Award Nominee list for 2010-11 in Division II (5th -7th grade).
If you are a middle school or young adult reader, or you know one, these books are excellent. ALL OF THE ABOVE is based on the true story of a middle school class in Ohio trying to break the world record by building the largest freestanding paper tetrahedron. The four distinct voices of the narrators are genuine and engaging. Regardless of where you live or who you are each reader will find feelings and perceptions with which to identify. By the same token, each reader will also then use those similarities to really experience the differences among the characters in the book as well. Personally, this type of layered reading experience within a story is one of the things that makes a book precious to me.
Having read ALL OF THE ABOVE and enjoyed it so thoroughly, I went looking for more of Ms. Pearsall’s work. I also visited her website, which is quite informative and interesting to explore.
Her first novel was TROUBLE DON’T LAST, which I just finished. It tells the story of Samuel, an 11yr old boy born into slavery in Kentucky. He never knew his mother, as she was sold before he could walk. One night Harrison, the old man who has taken care of him, wakes Samuel and takes him along as they run toward freedom in Canada. The viewpoint throughout the story is Samuel’s. I was drawn into the story by Samuel’s very clear, genuine voice. I could feel his fear, and his horror, his wonder and his sadness amidst deplorable circumstances. Shelley Pearsall says that she felt much had been written about the Underground Railroad, but there were few personal accounts and she tried to capture that in this story. In my opinion she succeeded.
The next novel of Ms. Pearsall’s I read this summer was ALL SHOOK UP. This is set in the present. The main character is a 7th Grade boy whose parents are already divorced at the beginning of the story. His maternal grandmother falls in her home in Florida and his mother has to relocate there for a few months to help her mother with her recovery. Josh is sent to live with his dad in Chicago.
Upon arriving in Chicago Josh discovers that the father who had always worked as a shoe salesman has lost his job and is now working as an Elvis Presley impersonator. Josh is mortified by this information. He even goes so far as to pick up a job application from a local video store for his dad so he can have a “real” job again. The really moving part about this novel is the honesty with which Josh speaks. We all have feelings of anger and resentment and embarrassment connected at times with our parents. It’s hard to admit those things to ourselves. We see in Josh’s gradual realization of the discrepancy between his perceptions and his father’s our own understanding of those feelings and thoughts that can otherwise fester. When Josh decides to manipulate circumstances, sacrificing his father’s goals for his own he discovers that the consequences are far-reaching in ways he never anticipated. And he discovers how to find his way back from some questionable decisions. It is a remarkable book that adds to my admiration for Shelley Pearsall and her work.
The other work by Ms. Pearsall that I have read this past month is CROOKED RIVER. This is historical fiction. The story takes place in 1812. A white trapper is murdered and a Chippewa man is accused of the crime. The narrator is a young girl whose father is resposible for taking the young Chippewa prisoner and chaining him in their attic until his “trial.” Again, there are many details within the story that are based on actual individuals and circumstances although all the specifics of the main characters are fictional. Like all her other work, this story came alive right off the pages for me.
This book in particular poses a dilemma for young Rebecca: (1)she knows her father is a cruel individual; (2) she is afraid of him–and of doing anything against his wishes; (3) she knows that she has always been taught that “Indians” are ‘savages; then she begins to really observe the young man in her attic, and she communicates with another man who believes Indians (in this case, Native American Chippewa) are the same as settlers like himself–and like Rebecca. Now she must decide on her own if she must act and how she must act.
Rebecca & her sister Laura find themselves seeing Amik (the Native American) as a human being, no different in basic right and worth than themselves.
It is a story about doing what is you feel is morally right even when the majority of those around you (including those who have absolute authority OVER you) tell you differently. As
Rebecca searches to find courage to do what she can to help Amik, we, too, are encouraged to look inward at our own prejudices, our own behaviors. What are they based on? Fact? Authentic experience? What we have been TOLD by others?
Although Rebecca’s dilemma is much more severe than those we face on a daily basis, doing what we believe is right in the face of possible physical, mental, emotional, or financial consequences is no less a hallmark of our character. Rebecca’s dilemma and decision provide an excellent springboard for discussion about majority rule, mob mentality, individuality vs. accepted viewpoints, even personal values. It also allows each reader the opportunity to look inside herself at what qualities Rebecca possesses that I would like to emulate and in what ways can I make sure my actions support what I believe about people.
She includes at the end of the book the facts which inspired her to write it—from the actual trial of a Native American, to the many stories/experiences related in the narrative.
It is moving, touching, inspiring. I think this is the kind of story that makes the reader want to be a better person, and maybe recognize that those choices will often be some of the hardest we make.
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Shelley Pearsall's first YA book is a wonderful history about the trial of a Native American by white settlers in Ohio 1812. The trial pits the crooked testimony of the settlers who are simply setting up the Chippewa Indian with falsified testimony, and the thirteen year old daughter of the family where the Indian is being held prior to trial. The young girl, Rebecca, comes to realize that the Native American is not guilty of the murder charge and is conflicted as to how she is to feel, and how to react to the events.
The story is full of historical detail of Native American and white settlements in the Ohio area at the time, and well told by Author Pearsall. . . It is great experience for both young and old in the evils of prejudice and how to find ultimate justice along the way. Bravo Author Pearsall! A great read for both young and old. -
Started out a little slow, but about a third of the way in, I couldn’t stop reading. Beautiful ending.
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Awesome. I loved how the characters interact with each other and it’s setting in the late 1800’s. I actually had a chance to chat with Shelly Pearsall and talk to her about the book.
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I have been reading parts aloud to my students (class novel), and we just enjoyed an amazing visit from the author. We read the chapter with the snowshoe testimony and my students were rapt (okay, so I like to adopt voices for different characters and dramatize just a bit...) and they were jumping out of their seats when the chapter came to a close with anticipation for what will happen next! Several said they felt they were living it right now. I credit Pearsall's wonderful character development and plotting -- she is an amazing writer. I think we are all lucky that she abandoned teaching to share her wonderful storytelling talents with readers of all ages!
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This is one of the very few books where I read everything from the dedication to the very end including acknowledgements, about the author, bibliography (yes, there is a biblio on this one), about Crooked River, and Reader's Theater.
In this book, Shelley Pearsall weaves a new story from reports, diaries, and events from spring 1812. The blurb tells of a Native American held captive in the log home of an Ohio settler family. The story is mostly told from the point of view of Rebecca (aka Reb), the 13-year-old daughter of Indian John's captor. However, the author chose two voices for this book and several chapters are Amik (Indian John) speaking.
Given the time frame of the book and the circumstances of the setting - Ohio settlement 1812, Indian accused of murdering a white trapper, impending trial - I had very little hope for Amik's life. On one hand I was correct, though the evidence proved Amik innocent he was convicted to death. On the other hand...events can be thwarted in many ways.
This slim volume is very well written and filled with not only the hatred in prejudice of the time, but also compassion and understanding and knowledge. The antagonists are heard hearted and cruel filled with prejudice. Even Reb's nice brother Amos...
'"But what it -" I paused and took a deep breath. "What if it comes out in the trial that maybe he ain't guilty?" [Rebecca]
Amos sighed loudly. "Why don't you ever use your head, Reb? If he wasn't guilty, there wouldn't be a trial, now would there? there wouldn't be no need for a jury or lawyers if he was innocent, right? What kind of sense would that make?"'
To him the trial was just an event where Major Carver and his cronies could show power and pray on fear with their hateful thoughts.
There is a wonderful lawyer who comes to help Amik. We do hope he falls for Rebecca's sister Laura, but he is too focused on his friend Amik's trial and trying to gain enough evidence to save him (plus this is not a romance). He does. In today's court there would be enough reasonable doubt to acquit. Laura tells Rebecca about the closing argument...
'"He told the jury that there were good Indians and bad Indians, the same as white people or any other people," Laura repeated, "And he said that the men in the jury were sworn to give Indian John as fair and full a trial as any white man. He told the men that no human life, not even an Indian's, ought ever to be taken away unless the accused was guilty of the crime. And the evidence proved without one shred of doubt that Indian John was as innocent as any one of them."'
[This paragraph struck home. It is quite sad that we as a society and people has not evolved beyond this.]
While the book is filled with hatred and cruelty, it is also filled with love and friendship. Rebecca does everything she can to help an innocent man get justice and freedom. Sadly, fear of her abusive father keeps her from telling Amik's lawyer about the fabricated evidence the prosecution presents. In the end, she still follows her heart and conscience to help Amik.
The poem chapters in Amik's voice show us a kind and observant and peaceful man. He is the truly civilized one.
I am very glad I picked this up (I'm not even sure I know exactly where I got it anymore). In my humble opinion, it should be on school reading lists (if it isn't already). It shows that even in the face of prejudice and defeat there can be hope. It also shows how much we can learn from each other if we take the time to listen. -
Dreaming of seeing my own books in bookstores one day, I find myself consciously wondering sometimes, what makes me pick a book up from the shelf? What makes me look at the blurb on the back? And then what makes me buy? Unfortunately what makes me buy is all too often influenced by whether the book is cheap, and some of my most treasured finds have been remaindered hardbacks.
Crooked River was a hardback remainder with a beautiful cover. Purple clouds (I like purple) loom in a black-lit sky and jagged lightning stabs at a woven earth-toned patterned thread. That’s why I picked it up. The back blurb lists the awards received for Shelley Pearsall’s previous book, Trouble Don’t Last, convincing me she must be a good writer who tells a good tale. And the inside flap reveals the voice of Indian John in prose poetry, coupled with this introduction, “The year is 1812. A white trapper is murdered. And a young Chippewa Indian stands accused.” I was hooked.
The story is told in two voices, that of Indian John with flowing words likes streams of living meaning, and that of Rebecca Carver, a thirteen-year-old slowly learning just how wrong the world can be. Her halting steps, from obedient acceptance of everything she’s told, to human concern and thankfulness and thought, are beautifully told. Her words reflect the language of the time—the author says she mined old documents and diaries for authentic turns of phrase. The passages grow to reveal the mind of a genuine girl with a thirteen-year-old’s passion for truth and joy under the burden of a settler’s needs.
I learned how justice was conducted on the frontier, how judges travelled from town to town, how decisions were made and lives ended with the aid of a jury of somebody’s peers. I learned of human frailty, of good people believing falsehood and closing their ears to truth, and also of hope. I longed for the right ending to the book, though I couldn’t see how it would come. And then I read an ending that was righter than right and delighted me.
I hope I might read Trouble Don’t Last one day. But for now, Crooked River was a wonderful introduction to an author whose research astounds and convinces, and whose writing voices inspire. -
I thought this book was quite good!! And thank god, because I have been reading some not-fantastic stuff lately.
This book was about life on an Ohio settlement town and how they treated the Native Americans that were really there prior to their settlement. The people of the settlement capture and imprison a Native American man who they think murdered one of their trapper buddies. The rest of the book is about getting to know the man and then the trial.
I learned a lot in this book, and I love to learn! The author, who also wrote
Trouble Don't Last and
All Shook Up, captured the voice of Rebecca so well. I felt like the main character was really speaking. I really loved the alternating voices of Rebecca and Amik, and Amik's parts were so poetic and lovely. Rebecca was a GREAT character, and I love a good strong female. She stood up for what was right and she fought the man. Go Rebecca!!!
This book could definitely open up conversations about racism and could easily be connected to events in the present day. It's truly sad to see how NOT far we have come in the past 200 years. People still can't comprehend that people are people, regardless of skin color.
Anyway, great book! And the ending was fantastic. -
Rebecca is appalled when her Pa brings home an Indian and locks him up in the attic. She's terrified of Indians in general and her Pa says that this Indian is a murderer. But when she screws up her courage to bring the Indian some food, she begins to realize that maybe he's not as terrifying as she thought. Then a young lawyer comes to their cabin claiming to be friends with the Indian. He's going to defend "Indian John" at his trial. Rebecca knows that there is no chance Indian John will be found innocent, but maybe, just maybe, something spectacular will happen that could save his life.
I found it a little hard to get into this book because the action starts pretty much right away and you don't get a lot of background about the characters. Short chapters narrated by Rebecca alternate with poems that show "Indian John" (Amik)'s point of view. As the novel went on, I found myself rooting for the characters and Pearsall includes a fabulous author's note and selected bibliography.
Readalike suggestions: For another book set in the same time period and dealing with Native Americans, "Caddie Woodlawn" by Carol Ryrie Brink and "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare are ideas (though beware stereotypes!). For books about trials that deal with similarly unpopular peoples or ideas, suggest "Monkey Town" by Ronald Kidd or "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. -
The book Crooked river was an amazing historical fiction novel. It’s about a girl, Rebecca and her father bringing in an Indian that was thought to be a murder of a white trapper. Rebecca was determined to find a way to save the Indian from getting killed, since they held a trial for him and was found guilty. Before all this, Rebecca, her sisters Laura and Mercy, her brothers Lorenzo and Amos, and her dad lived calmly.
The one thing that I didn’t like about the book was that all of the testimonies were lying to the judge and the judge believed them. The things I like about this book is that it has a really good background story. It was pretty fun to read and find out what some people thought about the Indians even if it was pretty bad thinking.
I give this book a 4 star rating because even if it has some pretty cool things and a really good background story, it did say some pretty bad things and strong words you wouldn’t normally hear at school or anywhere in public, unless there was someone with a strong sense of language. -
Rebecca Carver lives in the Ohio Valley with her widowed father and many siblings. Her father, Major Lorenzo Carver is a prejudiced, verbally abusive,and a bitter father who does not have a kind word to say about anyone. He takes justice into his own hands when a white trapper is found murdered. He captures a Ojibway Indian and shackles him, binds him and holds him captive in the loft of Rebecca's home. She and her sister, Laura are frightened of this strange man, but gradually come to understand him without using words, as their languages are not the same. Rebecca comes to believe in his innocence and devises a way to insure his freedom, even after he is found guilty by the white man's judicial system. The tension leading up to the war of 1812 is portrayed in this realistic historical account of our nation's history when bigotry and non-acceptance of diversity was rampant.
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A story of prejudice and courage told in alternating voices, Crooked River is set on the American frontier of Ohio in 1812. Rebecca and her four brothers and sisters live in a small cabin with their father, a violent and short-tempered man. Pa is one of them men who brings back Indian John to town for trial in the murder of a white trapper – only there is no jail in town, so Indian john is chained up in the family’s attic. Rebecca begins to question who is right and who is wrong as she sees evidence that the Indian being held for the crime is innocent… but no one will listen to her, least of all her father. Excellent characterization and voice.
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Please keep in mind that if I was going to select a genre to read for the rest of my life it would be historical fiction. If I had to narrow that down even further it would specifically involve Native Americans and pioneers, so this books screams everything that I love. Even with that said this book is still amazing. The story has been done a lot of times, due to their race/class someone is accused of murdering/killing/betraying someone from a higher class. The way this story is written though is captivating and it was really hard for me to put down. In fact I didn't until I finished it.
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Crooked River is a real place -- the story is based on real events. A young girl views the limits of a lifetime as she assists in feeding an Indian man held captive for some time as settlers deliberate his fate. The style of two voices speaking is outstanding as is the poetic form of interpreting the Indian's observations. This book is appropriate for children of all ages and for anyone who reads middle grade literature or historical fiction, and wants to look at pioneer America from another point of view.
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This book was O.K., but I didn't really like it. It's all about an Indian named John that is accused of killing a white trapper. He is going to be put on trial for murder and if he gets convicted, he will be sentenced to hang. Rebecca is trying to save him, but all the town is against John, so in the end, he is sentenced to hang. Rebecca doesn't like this, so she goes and cuts the rope he will be hung on. The rope ends up breaking when John is hanged and he escapes from the whites. I learned that you should not hate someone because of race.
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A good story. I liked the alternating points of view between Amik and Rebecca. Rebecca felt very real as she learned that different doesn't necessarily mean bad, and people she respects and/or fears can lie when it serves their purposes. I also liked the author's note at the back about how this was based on a real trial of a Chippewa accused of killing a white man. The only thing that I didn't like was the maturity of the tone of the story. I think I would have ate this story up at about 8 or 9 years old, though it was labeled as YA by my library.
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I read this three years ago in fifth grade. I really enjoyed this book but I hated how the whites would be so cruel to the indian. They threw fruits at him because he was a different race!!! Talk about cruelty!!! I am a different race and if someone threw something at me or disliked me because I am differet; I would stand up for my rights!!! I love the plot and I only gave it 3 because of the cruelty. Unlike Hatchet, this was a pretty good book in reading class!
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This book was a pleasant surprise. It is one of this years grade 6-9 Black-eyed Susan nominees, and that was wh I read it. Amazingly enough, it also fit the 8th grade Social Studies/Accelerated Reader project for the second semester (book that takes place in the 1800-1900s). It was basically about an incredibly unfair murder trial.
