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A review by angiebayne
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
3.0
Tash and Sam are fleeing their Tibetan village and trekking over the Himalayas into India. They hope to find the Dalai Lama and ask him for help in freeing Tash's parents. Her parents were taken by the Chinese government in a crackdown after a man set himself on fire in protest. Tash's dad writes for the government newspaper but is also an agent for the resistance. He sends her off with a secret message. Tash and Sam and their two yaks have to flee the government soldiers and survive the harsh conditions to get to India. Once there will the Dalai Lama be able to help them?
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It is a good survival story set in a part of the world that is not often used as a setting for kids books. However, I felt like the story was rushed. The short chapters are great for young readers, but there seemed to be details lacking that would have helped flesh out the story. Even the parts that indicated they were in danger ended so quickly that the danger didn't seem so bad.
The Western names also don't help the story since these are native Tibetan kids. It is explained that Tash and Sam are shortened nicknames for traditional Tibetan names, but because they sound so Western it threw me off.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It is a good survival story set in a part of the world that is not often used as a setting for kids books. However, I felt like the story was rushed. The short chapters are great for young readers, but there seemed to be details lacking that would have helped flesh out the story. Even the parts that indicated they were in danger ended so quickly that the danger didn't seem so bad.
The Western names also don't help the story since these are native Tibetan kids. It is explained that Tash and Sam are shortened nicknames for traditional Tibetan names, but because they sound so Western it threw me off.