http://redblackandwhitebookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/girls-survive-series-part-3.html
I also started writing this in July and got sidetracked. Again. I need to stop doing this.
These newest four Girls Survive just released. I think they were supposed to be August 1st, so once again, they came out early.
Amazon's shipping has been terrible. They've switched to UPS Mail Innovations for certain packages and they take eons to arrive. I get it, pandemic, yeah, but I'm a Prime member and that's not cheap, so I miss the method of shipment I'm used to my money paying for.
Long story short, I only have two of the four books so far. The other two are poking along verrrrrrrry slowly. So for the first time, my review is going out of chronological order.
We begin with Rebecca, whose story was based on the women who helped the Revolutionary War by being heroic messengers. This one was simple, but it was also enjoyable. I liked it a lot.
Maribel's book takes place during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Maribel is a Hispanic girl with ADD. Back in those days, things like that weren't diagnosed, so it's not discussed in the book in plain language, but the signs are there, and the author addresses it at the end.
Maribel and her family are evacuated from their home and live with friends for three weeks, mostly not believing there's any danger from the volcano. Tired of her family being upset, Maribel decides to sneak back to her home and retrieve some possessions she thinks will help. Naturally, the volcano erupts while she's there and she has to fight her way to safety.
I really liked this one, because this is something I didn't know much about. It went by quickly, as this series tends to do, but it was well-written.
If you've never heard of the Great Molasses Flood, it's about exactly what it sounds like. In Boston in 1919, a giant tank of molasses exploded and the ensuing wave killed 21 people and injured many others. It sounds silly, but it was real and would have been pretty terrifying.
These newest four Girls Survive just released. I think they were supposed to be August 1st, so once again, they came out early.
Amazon's shipping has been terrible. They've switched to UPS Mail Innovations for certain packages and they take eons to arrive. I get it, pandemic, yeah, but I'm a Prime member and that's not cheap, so I miss the method of shipment I'm used to my money paying for.
Long story short, I only have two of the four books so far. The other two are poking along verrrrrrrry slowly. So for the first time, my review is going out of chronological order.
We begin with Rebecca, whose story was based on the women who helped the Revolutionary War by being heroic messengers. This one was simple, but it was also enjoyable. I liked it a lot.
Maribel and her family are evacuated from their home and live with friends for three weeks, mostly not believing there's any danger from the volcano. Tired of her family being upset, Maribel decides to sneak back to her home and retrieve some possessions she thinks will help. Naturally, the volcano erupts while she's there and she has to fight her way to safety.
I really liked this one, because this is something I didn't know much about. It went by quickly, as this series tends to do, but it was well-written.
If you've never heard of the Great Molasses Flood, it's about exactly what it sounds like. In Boston in 1919, a giant tank of molasses exploded and the ensuing wave killed 21 people and injured many others. It sounds silly, but it was real and would have been pretty terrifying.
The events of the book happen very fast. Leah is an orphan who lives with her uncle, who works for the company that owns the tank. Her dream is to go west. She goes to school, having a couple run-ins with a female classmate named Francesca, who's sort of a rival. Throughout the day, the girls become slightly friendlier, but they're outside when the tank explodes and that throws them into a life and death situation together. First they're in the wave itself, then they're trapped in a crawlspace with the level of molasses slowly rising. Both sustain injuries and struggle to find a way out. They end up being rescued and taken for medical assistance. The girls end up fine, but Leah learns later that her uncle was killed in the flood. When she goes home, she discovers that the can she thought held their vacation fund was money he had been saving for her future, so she can actually go west and live her dream. Francesca comes to find her and offers her a place to stay with her family until school ends and Leah can buy a train ticket west.
This book originally had a different cover. This one here on the right. Leah had longer hair and the title was different. I guess they must have decided "Braves the Wave" sounded a little stupid.
I liked this one, but the super fast pace made it less interesting than others. It was okay, but I felt like I didn't have time to get invested in the characters much, though I did like both girls.
Oh, man. This one hit me hard.
Tara and her mother are vacationing in Thailand, because her mother's parents were Thai immigrants. They're there on their third day when the tsunami hits.
I'm not sure if the story was hard because Tara and her mother are close, just like I am with my mom, and they're separated. You spend a lot of the story wondering if her mom's okay. (She is. Whew.) It also might have been hard because we survived a hurricane together. Nothing as powerfully devastating as this tsunami, but it was terrifying regardless. Some of the incidents in the book brought things back. It ends on a bittersweet note, because Tara and her mom are safe and return home, but you never learn the fates of other characters in the book. Still, I think it's one of the strongest of this entire series. Very powerful.
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