hunkydory's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Minor: Hate crime
littleseal's review against another edition
Orphelia's mom frustrated me to no end, and her dad was no better in letting her mom treat her the way she did. While the reasoning why was explained at the end, it still didn't sit right with me. However, the history about minstrels and blackface was informative and interesting (but also disturbing).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Classism, Racism, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail
panda_incognito's review against another edition
2.0
For some reason, I never read any of the American Girl History Mysteries. They were shelved right with the other books, but I never read them, and that seems strange in retrospect. Granted, they aren't about any of the classic American Girl characters, but since I loved historical fiction and mysteries and was often desperate for something to read, I don't understand why I always passed these by. Recently, I decided to read the few remaining titles that the library still has, and I read this one first. I did not like it at all, and felt like I hadn't missed out on anything.
This book isn't much of a mystery, and the one mysterious element of the story is extremely obvious long before the main character manages to piece together the clues that stared her in the face. This book's primary value isn't in the mystery, but in the education about black history, minstrel shows, and lynching. However, even though I thought it was interesting how the woman that the main character admires runs a minstrel show while rejecting the stereotypes expected by white audiences, the book itself was not engaging to me.
The conflict between the main character and her mother drives the entire plot, since it leads her to run away from home to try to join the minstrel show. However, even though the book resolves and explains this at the end, her mother's behavior at the beginning and blatant favoritism for her other daughter were downright abusive, and the book ends by making excuses for her without fully resolving how problematic the family dynamics were. Ultimately, this is an educational book that I found both mediocre and frustrating, and I would not recommend it unless someone was extremely interested in the specific time period and topic.
This book isn't much of a mystery, and the one mysterious element of the story is extremely obvious long before the main character manages to piece together the clues that stared her in the face. This book's primary value isn't in the mystery, but in the education about black history, minstrel shows, and lynching. However, even though I thought it was interesting how the woman that the main character admires runs a minstrel show while rejecting the stereotypes expected by white audiences, the book itself was not engaging to me.
The conflict between the main character and her mother drives the entire plot, since it leads her to run away from home to try to join the minstrel show. However, even though the book resolves and explains this at the end, her mother's behavior at the beginning and blatant favoritism for her other daughter were downright abusive, and the book ends by making excuses for her without fully resolving how problematic the family dynamics were. Ultimately, this is an educational book that I found both mediocre and frustrating, and I would not recommend it unless someone was extremely interested in the specific time period and topic.
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