Saturday, May 3, 2014

23. Gingersnap - Patricia Reilly Giff

2013, Wendy Lamb Books, Random House
147 pgs.
Written for Middle grades
Finished 5/2/2014
Historical Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 3.37
My Rating: Liked it - with reservations (see below)
TPPL
Setting: 1944 Brooklyn, NY
1st sentence/s:  "I'll be right there, Rob," I called.  Did my brother hear me?

My comments:  :This was a good story, but there were several weird additions and subtractions that keeps it only "good."  The protagonist, Jayna, has a ghost accompany her once in awhile throughout the story.  Why?  For me it was unbelievable and pointless.  And finding a long-lost grandparent or extremely close friend-of-the-family?  Even in the 1940's if there was a death in the family, survivors would be sought, contacted....  Then there was the useless, confusing-a-that-point prologue.  The finding-a-new-family and the setting of Brooklyn were wonderful and could have been more deeply explored.  Oh well.  On to the next....

Goodreads Summary:  It's 1944, W.W. II is raging. Jayna's big brother Rob is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn. Rob found a little blue recipe book with her name and an address for a bakery. When Jayna learns that Rob is missing in action, she's devastated. Along with her turtle Theresa, the recipe book, and an encouraging, ghostly voice as her guide, Jayna sets out for Brooklyn in hopes of finding the family she so desperately needs.

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