Brenna B. (demiducky25) reviewed on 3/2/2009 + 161 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

As with all the "Dear America" books, this is set up as the diary of the main character, Catharine, or Caty as she is referred to by her father. This time, however, the diary takes a slightly different format partway through the story. It starts off describing Caty's life coming of age in a Quaker community in Pennsylvania. She is trying to come to terms with her shyness with a certain boy and how she has some feelings of vanity that go against her Quaker beliefs. However, early on in the story, she and her younger brother Thomas are captured by a group of Lenape Indians. From that point until somewhere in the middle of the story, the diary takes the form of pleas to her father, telling him about how she originally disdains her captors, but eventually comes to feel warmth towards them. A little past the midway point, the story then stops being pleas to her father & she starts writing the diary for herself again as she records how her previous ideas about her own life and the lives of the Native Americans are starting to change.

There were a few points in this story where it did start to drag a bit, but overall, it was quite good. I enjoyed watching Caty's transformation and I liked how throughout her journey she continued to feel conflicted. It certainly wasn't an "and they all lived happily ever after" type story. Rather, it felt more realistic as Caty was consistently conflicted, even by the end of the story.

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