|
|
| |
Book ReviewsAwake and Dreaming |
|
|
Book: Awake and Dreaming
Written by: Kit Pearson |
Publisher: Rebound by Sagebrush
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
|
|
A Ghost Story with Substance
Rating:
4 / 5
Kids get to go on some fun field trips these days, and a couple of years ago I decided to tag along and chaperone when my son's grade 7 class was going to visit Ross Bay Cemetery located here in Victoria. It all had to do with this book they had read in class, whose plot involved the cemetery, a house across the street from it, and other nearby landmarks that I knew of.
Theodora and her mother live in Vancouver in utter poverty - if you can call it living. There's never enough to eat, and her shoes are too small and falling apart. Theo's mother is never home, either working or out with a boyfriend, and leaves the young lady on her own far too often. It's enough to have Theo taken away and made a ward of the court, but the secret is very well kept. Theo changes schools often so that nobody in a position to do anything about the situation can help. Sometimes she's lucky and the schools have meal programs, sometimes she isn't. Then she must try to learn while her body devours itself from the inside out.
Things suddenly change when Theo's mother runs into an old friend and the two begin a relationship. Naturally there isn't any room for Theo who wants a kid hanging out when they are trying to party anyhow?! So Theo is left on her own, more and more, until the day her Mother decides to move in with this new guy. The invitation didn't extend to Theo, of course, so she is unloaded on an Aunt in Victoria who she hasn't seen in years. The deal is that Theo's mom will send money, and that it won't be for long, only until she talks the boyfriend into accepting Theo.
Theo has dreamed of belonging to a real family for so long that it has become a familiar and easy dream to fall into. There will be four children, two older and two younger, so that Theo can be in the middle. Then somehow the oddest thing happens - Theo is very mysteriously adopted into her dream family. The Kaldor's are filled with love and warmth, and for the first time in her life, Theo is not only happy, but well dressed and fully fed. She even relaxes enough to build friendships with her new siblings.
Tragically, something goes horribly, horribly wrong and Theo slowly fades from the life she has found. She finds herself back with her mother, traveling on the ferry to Victoria. The Kaldor's couldn't have been a dream, it was far too real to Theo, and she is filled with anguish at the loss. How could this have happened to her?
What really hits home is the reality involved here. Aside from the fantasy elements, this book holds some cold hard truths that children face today. It is well deserving of winning The Canada Council for the Arts Governor General's Literary Awards. This is a ghost story with some real substance.
Review Originally Posted at LinearReflections.com
A Book of Adventure -By:PEC(Grade 5)
Rating:
5 / 5
Awake and Dreaming,a breath taking book, tells a story about a girl named Theo and her dreams. The story takes place in a city called Vancouver. A young girl named Theo and her mother,Rae live a horrible life. Rae acts like a teenager, and all Theo wants is to belong to a real family! When Rae falls in love with a man named Cal, who hates kids, Theo has to live with her aunt in a city called Victory.
While on the ferry to Victory, Rae goes outside to have a smoke. While Rae is outside Theo meets the Kaldors, the perfect family and the family Theo has longed to live with! When Theo wakes up in a bed in the Kaldors' house they suddenly just welcome her in the family in a blink of an eye. It seems like the ferry never happened. Theo thinks it must be a dream. Or isn't it? Who is haunting her dreams too?
Simply luscious...
Rating:
5 / 5
Honestly, I cried many times. This book has a beautiful flow to it, and the beauty can't be described in words. I've read the plot the Bookreview had given it, and the plot didn't seem interesting. But trust me, this book is absoloutely worth it.
Words don't explain everything:)
Kit Pearson is a wonderful author, talented in capturing the reader's attention. I look forward to read other books by Kit Pearson. I'm only eleven, but I...I can't describe it. If you enjoy flowing poems, simply luscious words, aura and beauty, you'll definitely fit in to this book.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|