Tag: Adventure

  • Meet Josefina

    Meet Josefina

    What an adventure

    Author: Valerie Tripp

    Josefina’s personally

    Josefina is the youngest of four sisters, yet we see she is the peacemaker between her sisters.

    According to birth order personality theory, it is rare for the youngest to be the peacemaker. So it’s interesting that Josafina has taken this role on, apparently since the death of her mother.

    Josefina seams to struggle with anxiety about the goats. I’ve never had goats myself, but I’ve heard they can be bullies.

    Symbolism

    There are some great symbols in this book. The primrose has a number of meanings, I think the most relevant are childhood innocents, healing, and material love. That almost summarizes the whole book!

    Josafina is afraid of goats… but is she really? I’m no mental health professional,  but I do know that anxiety and hypervigilance are common reactions to trama. I think that Josafina is projecting her fears about the world onto the goats. The world is everywhere, an unmeasurable danger, but Josefina can know where the goats are, and while she can’t avoid the world, she can avoid some goats.

    We have reached the end of the American Girls I knew as a kid. Next we read the first girl released after I aged out of the series: Kit

  • Spoiler-Free Review: Hostage

    Spoiler-Free Review: Hostage

    “The following instructions will save your daughter’s life…”

    Author: Clare MacKintosh

    Between her crumbling marriage and trouble bonding with her adopted daughter, flight attendant Mina plans on using the twenty-hour nonstop flight to think things through. Unfortunately for Mina, this flight is hardly routine. With terrorists threatening not just the flight, but her family on the ground, Mina finds herself an unwilling accomplice to their villainous schemes, but twenty hours is a long time. Will it be long enough for Mina to find a way to fight back?

    This book kept me on the edge of my seat! This is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. Mina is a great lead character. I love how smart little Sophia is! Often times in stories like this, kids are written as either too dumb to live, or as mini college-educated adults. Sophia is the right blend of smart and stupid just like you would expect from a real kid. I really enjoyed her age-appropriate (possibly high-functioning autistic) problem-solving. She’s very smart for her age, but she still reasons like a child.

    I recommend this book to fans of thrillers and that ending will leave you gasping for breath.