A review by annelienvan
City of Stars by Mary Hoffman
4.0
A very sweet, but also 'realistic' book, highly recommendable for girls and boys between the ages of 10 and 15-16.
Georgia O'Grady is a teenaged girl who likes horses, but is a bit of an outcast at school and has a terrible stepbrother who likes to torment her when she's at home. When she buys a little statue of a winged horse in an antique-shop, she discovers a whole new world, with a different Italy and a horserace that will change her life.
While there are some times strange jumps in the story and the story suddenly goes way too fast near the end (it almost feel liks the author hadn't realised the deadline was in 20 days and the plot still needed to end and all the loose ends brought together) it's still well written and captivating. I loved this book as a teenager, wanting to escape the world like every teenage girl does. It deals with some heavy topics and I think it deals with them really well, in a way that the teenager reading this book will think about the themes and what he or she would have done in that situation.
Georgia O'Grady is a teenaged girl who likes horses, but is a bit of an outcast at school and has a terrible stepbrother who likes to torment her when she's at home. When she buys a little statue of a winged horse in an antique-shop, she discovers a whole new world, with a different Italy and a horserace that will change her life.
While there are some times strange jumps in the story and the story suddenly goes way too fast near the end (it almost feel liks the author hadn't realised the deadline was in 20 days and the plot still needed to end and all the loose ends brought together) it's still well written and captivating. I loved this book as a teenager, wanting to escape the world like every teenage girl does. It deals with some heavy topics and I think it deals with them really well, in a way that the teenager reading this book will think about the themes and what he or she would have done in that situation.