I got this book about fifteen years ago when I took a course from The Institute of Children’s Literature (great course). I’ve hung onto it because I remembered liking it so much. I’m paring down, getting rid of books (if anyone wants this one, drop me a line), so I decided to read it again before I gave it away.

It is a novel that was chosen as an example for the course. I am now having to guess why, as I can’t remember that far back. My educated guess is that it is an excellent example of setting and character development. The plot isn’t that exciting to me and seems a little tired, but it was written 22 years ago, so maybe it was fresh and new then. Probably. Anyway, it’s a worthy read. The character is twelve, and being in third person, I would classify it as Middle Grade, rather than YA.