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wordsofclover 's review for:
The Snow Angel
by Lauren St. John, Catherine Hyde
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Head of Zeus/Zephyr.
The Snow Angel is a beautifully told middle grade novel about an 11-year-old girl called Makena whose biggest dream is to reach the snow on top of Mount Kenya. When disaster strikes her family, Makena suddenly finds herself alone in the world and navigating the slums of Nairobi. Fate eventually brings her to Scotland as she heals her broken heart and through it all she's watched by a mysterious magical fox.
This was so much more evocative, emotional and lovely than I thought it would be but I was truly sucked into this story really quickly, and I felt for Makena so much in it. The story really made me think about some things that I haven't thought about before, or at least in a long time. I, like everyone at the time, was obviously freaked out about Ebola but I have been lucky to never really need to think about it since the initial scare. I never thought about the children left behind as orphans because of it, and also how it could hit extremely ordinary people just like myself and my family and not just those living in extreme poverty or aid workers.
I loved the bits about albinism in it as well through Makena's friendship with another girl called Snow. Snow talks about how she's in danger because she's an albino and I feel like it's really educational in a simple, not scary way for younger kids that might be reading this. This was full of really lovely female friendships, and obviously diverse characters. Lauren St John is not an author of colour but she did grow up in Zimbabwe so knows a lot about African culture. I feel like she really did justice to Kenya (as far as I can say with my limited knowledge of the country) and described it so well and vibrant.
The small bits of magical realism with the fox were few and in between but it worked really well in the story. Makena really needed to make her own way through her grief and loneliness and I feel like, as a reader, I was really with her through that journey. It was heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time.
The Snow Angel is a beautifully told middle grade novel about an 11-year-old girl called Makena whose biggest dream is to reach the snow on top of Mount Kenya. When disaster strikes her family, Makena suddenly finds herself alone in the world and navigating the slums of Nairobi. Fate eventually brings her to Scotland as she heals her broken heart and through it all she's watched by a mysterious magical fox.
This was so much more evocative, emotional and lovely than I thought it would be but I was truly sucked into this story really quickly, and I felt for Makena so much in it. The story really made me think about some things that I haven't thought about before, or at least in a long time. I, like everyone at the time, was obviously freaked out about Ebola but I have been lucky to never really need to think about it since the initial scare. I never thought about the children left behind as orphans because of it, and also how it could hit extremely ordinary people just like myself and my family and not just those living in extreme poverty or aid workers.
I loved the bits about albinism in it as well through Makena's friendship with another girl called Snow. Snow talks about how she's in danger because she's an albino and I feel like it's really educational in a simple, not scary way for younger kids that might be reading this. This was full of really lovely female friendships, and obviously diverse characters. Lauren St John is not an author of colour but she did grow up in Zimbabwe so knows a lot about African culture. I feel like she really did justice to Kenya (as far as I can say with my limited knowledge of the country) and described it so well and vibrant.
The small bits of magical realism with the fox were few and in between but it worked really well in the story. Makena really needed to make her own way through her grief and loneliness and I feel like, as a reader, I was really with her through that journey. It was heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time.