mehsi's review against another edition
1.0
I needed a book for my challenge on my group. And this one turned out to be the one, and what a crap book it was. This mostly is due the way this book is written. Since people are offended when I get it wrong, I will just call it some form of poetry and leave it at that.
I don't mind poetry that much, but this kind just feels weird. Like someone wrote a complete book, with working sentences and then threw the book in the blender and mixer and continued from there. And yes, I have said so in every review about this kind of poetry. :) I just have to mention it in each review, as you never know if someone read other reviews.
I didn't particularly care about the main character, she seemed weak and strange. And I got a bit tired of her stuff about her hands. Seriously, just be FUCKING honest with people. Just tell them you can't play, that you want to, but that your hands are damaged beyond repair (or at least they make it seem like it is). Urgh. It was just pathetic.
Then we have the constant dust storm stuff. It was interesting at first, but later I was wondering why people were putting themselves through this kind of stuff. Why they stayed, why they kept trying, why they didn't just leave and find something better. Some place better to live. And yes, this costs money and all that, but I would save up money and then leave. There is nothing there but dust.
The book ends pretty boring, I had expected some great escape, something big, but instead things just continue as they always do. Nothing conclusive, nothing exciting. Bleh.
The book is marketed for kids, but I am not sure if they would like this. I wouldn't recommend it to a kid, not at all.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I don't mind poetry that much, but this kind just feels weird. Like someone wrote a complete book, with working sentences and then threw the book in the blender and mixer and continued from there. And yes, I have said so in every review about this kind of poetry. :) I just have to mention it in each review, as you never know if someone read other reviews.
I didn't particularly care about the main character, she seemed weak and strange. And I got a bit tired of her stuff about her hands. Seriously, just be FUCKING honest with people. Just tell them you can't play, that you want to, but that your hands are damaged beyond repair (or at least they make it seem like it is). Urgh. It was just pathetic.
Then we have the constant dust storm stuff. It was interesting at first, but later I was wondering why people were putting themselves through this kind of stuff. Why they stayed, why they kept trying, why they didn't just leave and find something better. Some place better to live. And yes, this costs money and all that, but I would save up money and then leave. There is nothing there but dust.
The book ends pretty boring, I had expected some great escape, something big, but instead things just continue as they always do. Nothing conclusive, nothing exciting. Bleh.
The book is marketed for kids, but I am not sure if they would like this. I wouldn't recommend it to a kid, not at all.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
libbith220's review against another edition
3.0
At first I thought that it was going to be a boring book, but I liked more than I thought I would and it opened my eyes to the hardship of the Dust Bowl.
jellybean_the_cat's review against another edition
5.0
I think this a good book and it shows how people live during the dust bowl
aniseekim's review against another edition
3.0
there’s good middle grade historical fiction, and then there’s this. not bad, but not good either. sort of just there.
sammi_jo's review against another edition
4.0
Wow! This book was depressing to the point of heartbreak. However it also shows you can make it through anything and it truly reflects the attitude of the Midwest, particularly Oklahoma during hard times. As someone who lives in Oklahoma but wasn't born here I see the perseverance of this state daily. Hard times may knock Oklahomans down but they get up wipe of the dust and carry on
the_knitting_librarian's review against another edition
2.0
Story was pretty good but the verse writing was a little difficult to get through.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review against another edition
5.0
I expected this to be a general look at life in a specific time and place (Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s) in the same vein as "All of a Kind Family", which detailed Jewish life in the Lower East Side during the early 1900s. That is to say, a book of nice characters and small events rather than one story arc that builds, climaxes, and resolves.
That is not this book.
This book tells the story of two years in the life of Billy Jo, written as diary entries and reading like poems. A bit into the book there's an unexpected turn of events that quickly builds the story of this book, hooking me and leaving me breathless through to the last pages. I highly, highly recommend this book.
That is not this book.
This book tells the story of two years in the life of Billy Jo, written as diary entries and reading like poems. A bit into the book there's an unexpected turn of events that quickly builds the story of this book, hooking me and leaving me breathless through to the last pages. I highly, highly recommend this book.
hldillon's review against another edition
5.0
Book written in verse about the Dust Bowl era. Billy Jo loves playing the piano, but times get rougher and harder to survive. Billy Jo has big decisions in front of her. Does she stay or run away?
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
5.0
This gets really sad when something horrible happens early on, but it is beautifully written in free verse poems.