Review of Professional Resource

Stevenson, Deborah. Reaching for Sun (Review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books - Volume 60, Number 7, March 2007, 314.

I found a review by Deborah Stevenson on Reaching for Sun, one of the books in my final text set. In her review, Stevenson says, "The plot and the characters are largely predictable, and the writing is sometimes overwrought-poems often succumb to the cliche of using their conclusions as dramatic and dramatic emotional punchlines, and the phraseology is occasionally strained or puzzling." Although I do agree with these descriptions of the book, I don't necessarily believe that they are a negative aspect as I get from the tone of Stevenson's words. This is a story about a young teenage girl living with cerebral palsy, falling in love and trying to get out from under the hand of her mother. I remember how dramatic I was at that age, and I think the author was very aware at how dramatic she was making this young girls' thoughts. I think it would be a very difficult time in a young girls' life to grow up with this physical disability; it already is a difficult time without any kind of disability! As for the predictable plot and characters, I almost think that this is good for a children's book. Some children like that kind of stability in a book, and I think that the author did a great job with both character and plot development. Personally, there was one major part in the book that I did not even expect to happen.
One point of view that I did think was very interesting in this review was when Stevenson said, "It's an emotional story for all that, with a sensitive perspective on Josie's physical difference, a difference that she sees from the outside when her grandmother struggles with her own physical limitations." When I read this book, I did not even think that Josie's grandmother's physical limitations had any relation to Josie's physical limitations. I thought this was a really great connection and it made the book a lot more meaningful for me.

Click here for Stevenson's full review