Book Review: The Truth about Sparrows

From Aliisa:

So today I have to share this wonderful book, and although it is technically for younger readers it is a wonderful...wonderful story. I recommend it above all others, well except for the other book she wrote. *lol*

Ok yes I am singing the praises of one Marian Hale and her 2 books, The Truth about Sparrows and Dark Water Rising. And yes, they are written by my incredibly talented mother.

The Truth about Sparrows is about our family during the depression. Its rich and wonderful and eloquently penned. And I promise, Im not biased *lol*

Here are a couple of reviews:

From Booklist*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. "I'd lost more than just a home and a best friend . . . I'd lost a piece of me that I might never find again." Twelve-year-old Sadie is heartbroken when her family, forced by drought and the Depression, leaves their Missouri home for Texas, where Sadie's father hopes to try fishing. The conditions en route are difficult. The family camps, picks cotton ("mean, hot work"), and bathes in cattle troughs before finally settling in a small fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico. In her debut novel, Hale writes a deeply affecting story that, through one family's struggle, brings close the realities of life in the depressed 1930s. Although Sadie's capable, loving parents are a bit too perfect, particularly her crippled father, Hale's evocative, sure prose, in Sadie's colloquial voice, brings alive the setting and the family's survival challenges with cinematic detail that's reminiscent of the Little House books. Sadie emerges as an endearing, complex character who rages against her displacement, even as she sees that other families are much worse off than her own. An excellent choice for class discussion, this captures the difficult specifics of an era, while asking larger questions about what it means to leave a life behind and start again. Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"[A] deeply affecting story . . . Hale's evocative, sure prose . . . brings alive the setting and the family's survival challenges with cinematic detail that's reminiscent of the Little House books."--Booklist, starred review

"What could have been just another surviving-the-Depression story is, instead a beautifully realized work, memorable for its Gulf Coast setting and the luminous voice of Sadie Wynn. An important addition to the genre from a new voice."--Kirkus Reviews

"Hale has created a character with a strong, lyrical voice. She describes the coastal area so vividly that Sparrows is a breath of fresh air even when it brings tears to your eyes. "--USA Today"[T]riumphant and memorable, as is her entire family--who not only endure the Depression but emerge stronger from it."--The Horn Book--This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Product Description

Come back and visit and read the reviews for my mom's other book, Dark Water Rising