froydis's review
4.0
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Candlewick Press for allowing me early access to this title.
This is a lyrically written, haunting tale of eleven schoolgirls and their teacher, Miss Renshaw. The chapters are all named for paintings by Charles Blackman, an Australian painter. Like the book, the paintings are haunting and a bit disturbing. There's a real mystery here as to what actually happens, an examination of the nature of reality as seen through the eyes of children and adults. Dubosarsky does a fantastic job at capturing the thought-processess of the little girls, and the strange situation they find themselves in. I'm not sure that children would find this book quite as disturbing as adults would - its not particularly scary as much as strange and haunting. A very good read!
This is a lyrically written, haunting tale of eleven schoolgirls and their teacher, Miss Renshaw. The chapters are all named for paintings by Charles Blackman, an Australian painter. Like the book, the paintings are haunting and a bit disturbing. There's a real mystery here as to what actually happens, an examination of the nature of reality as seen through the eyes of children and adults. Dubosarsky does a fantastic job at capturing the thought-processess of the little girls, and the strange situation they find themselves in. I'm not sure that children would find this book quite as disturbing as adults would - its not particularly scary as much as strange and haunting. A very good read!
sprainedbrain's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
liralen's review
2.0
A bit of a puzzle, and very much not what I was expecting. From the description I expected something YA or adult, but the story (of a class of eleven young girls in the 1960s whose teacher goes missing on an excursion) feels both aimed at a much younger audience and...not. It feels a bit like a school story from the 50s or 60s, the girls treated both as little adults and total nuisances, but all told in an almost fairytale-esque style. Over and over again the girls are referred to as 'little girls', and although their age is not given, they can't be more than about eight in the first three quarters of the book (in the last quarter or so, they're eight years older). That makes it feel very un-YA to me, but the story is simplistic enough that it doesn't feel quite adult, either. Is it middle grade? Is it something else?
It's not that I find it a bad book, mind. It's just that it was quite puzzling to me, and the book description seems to be describing a different book entirely. ...how a single shared experience can alter the course of young lives forever is not what's going on here: what happens is that we see a group of, yes, little girls who perhaps don't speak up when they should, and we see them struggle, still as little girls, to make sense of where their teacher is gone, and then we see them have a strange experience when they're a bit older. But forever is a long time, and there's really no way to tell in this book how the experience might affect them in the long term. (Which is fine. Just...again, not at all what I was expecting.)
I believe I originally shelved this for the time frame (the Vietnam War rages overseas), and while the school details seem right for the time, the mention of the Vietnam War again seems like something that might have made more sense for a YA book, with older characters, who might have a better grasp on what war means. So perhaps I'm really reviewing the book description rather than the book, in a sense, because while the description is lovely, it does a sort of misleading injustice to the book.
It's not that I find it a bad book, mind. It's just that it was quite puzzling to me, and the book description seems to be describing a different book entirely. ...how a single shared experience can alter the course of young lives forever is not what's going on here: what happens is that we see a group of, yes, little girls who perhaps don't speak up when they should, and we see them struggle, still as little girls, to make sense of where their teacher is gone, and then we see them have a strange experience when they're a bit older. But forever is a long time, and there's really no way to tell in this book how the experience might affect them in the long term. (Which is fine. Just...again, not at all what I was expecting.)
I believe I originally shelved this for the time frame (the Vietnam War rages overseas), and while the school details seem right for the time, the mention of the Vietnam War again seems like something that might have made more sense for a YA book, with older characters, who might have a better grasp on what war means. So perhaps I'm really reviewing the book description rather than the book, in a sense, because while the description is lovely, it does a sort of misleading injustice to the book.
harperphillips96's review
3.0
Three stars because despite the beautiful writing, it just wasn’t as creepy as I was looking forward to.
bannedfrombookclub's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
A kind of dreamy, creepy mystery with a lot of spaces to fill with your own suppositions, probably too many to really hook into my mind. Picnic at Hanging Rock is a clear influence.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment
sean67's review
4.0
Beautifully written story, sucks you in on the first page, and then takes you on this ride, and then the ending - what did happen? Lyrical and atmospheric, and it has all of her skills on display here in a great read.
bookworm_630's review
2.0
Thank you Net Galley for a digital review copy. I thought I would love this story. It has so many of the elements I love: historical setting, a mystery, a disappearance, Australia... but no. It just didn't click.
heykellyjensen's review
4.0
Where there are far more questions than answers, including my curiosity about why this is YA and not middle grade?
Eleven girls went to the park with their teacher, but eleven girls came back from the park, without their teacher. So what happened to Miss Renshaw? Did Morgan, who was avoiding the war and lived in the park and with whom Miss Renshaw was wildly smitten, kill her? Or did they run off together into the vast lands of Australia? Why do the girls share collective silence over what they did or did not see that day in the cave? Why does it take eight years for them to talk about that day together again and share something which they may have constructed entirely for themselves? And is something true if it's been written down? Or do we get to write down what we want the truth to be?
This is a heck of a little book. The story seems quite straight forward, but it's rich with depth, and the writing is strong. The main characters are very young -- late elementary or early middle school -- and the story thus reads through that lens. There is loss of innocence here and it's particularly tough watching that pain happen to the characters as an adult. But I suspect it is precisely at the right level FOR middle grade readers (where, I think, YA readers might not find it as affecting). That's not to say there's not good appeal here for some YA readers, but I suspect it might be one of those books advanced middle grade readers would appreciate very much.
The historical setting works and makes sense, even as an American (it's set in Australia during the Vietnam war). I was struck especially by what it was Icara hid from her peers -- Cubby especially, who she saw as a "friend" -- because it really felt perfectly in the time period and perfectly what someone her age would do.
I keep thinking, too, about what Miss Renshaw said to Icara. She was "too practical" and wasn't enough of a dreamer, and her father's career also made her resented by Renshaw. This was yet another layer upon a complex line of questions, particularly about truth, innocence, and the imagination.
Longer review to come. Even though I'm a little unsure of the YA categorization, I do think this is one of those books that'll get some award buzz. It will be well-deserved.
Eleven girls went to the park with their teacher, but eleven girls came back from the park, without their teacher. So what happened to Miss Renshaw? Did Morgan, who was avoiding the war and lived in the park and with whom Miss Renshaw was wildly smitten, kill her? Or did they run off together into the vast lands of Australia? Why do the girls share collective silence over what they did or did not see that day in the cave? Why does it take eight years for them to talk about that day together again and share something which they may have constructed entirely for themselves? And is something true if it's been written down? Or do we get to write down what we want the truth to be?
This is a heck of a little book. The story seems quite straight forward, but it's rich with depth, and the writing is strong. The main characters are very young -- late elementary or early middle school -- and the story thus reads through that lens. There is loss of innocence here and it's particularly tough watching that pain happen to the characters as an adult. But I suspect it is precisely at the right level FOR middle grade readers (where, I think, YA readers might not find it as affecting). That's not to say there's not good appeal here for some YA readers, but I suspect it might be one of those books advanced middle grade readers would appreciate very much.
The historical setting works and makes sense, even as an American (it's set in Australia during the Vietnam war). I was struck especially by what it was Icara hid from her peers -- Cubby especially, who she saw as a "friend" -- because it really felt perfectly in the time period and perfectly what someone her age would do.
I keep thinking, too, about what Miss Renshaw said to Icara. She was "too practical" and wasn't enough of a dreamer, and her father's career
Spoiler
as a judgeLonger review to come. Even though I'm a little unsure of the YA categorization, I do think this is one of those books that'll get some award buzz. It will be well-deserved.
aublar's review
4.0
I’m not usually a fan of books where not too much happens but I really enjoyed this short little novel where not too much happens. The character, descriptions (and the audio narrator) were fantastic. It’s a simple little story but a total mystery and I loved the ending.