Author: Maggie Dana
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: Two girls from two different centuries and the horse that brings them together.
Teenage equestrian Samantha DeVries wants to be the first African American to ride in the Olympics. Her father, a successful trainer, pushes Sam to excel, while Sam’s academic mother tries to instill a sense of heritage in her headstrong daughter who’d rather be riding horses than studying history. But Sam’s beliefs and her carefully constructed world shatter like a jelly jar when she travels through a time portal and lands in the canopy bed of an 1860s Southern belle.
Even more surprised by Sam’s unexpected arrival is Caroline Chandler. She’s a tomboy who wears breeches beneath her crinoline and rides horses bareback, much to the dismay of her critical mother.
But neither girl has time to fret over petticoats and prejudice. The Civil War is raging, and soldiers from both sides are stealing horses. At risk is Pandora, Caroline’s beloved mare. Without her, Sam’s future Olympic horse, Nugget, might not exist in the present.
Neither will Sam if the slave catchers grab her.
Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
Maggie Dana delivers a smooth read, and a light story in Turning on a dime. It is more of a middle grade or childrens book than YA, and this is reflected in the prose and short chapters, but overall it is still a very good read.
The characters were well rounded and interesting - both girls were tomboys, which I appreciated. They also had fire in their blood, and fought back against the various antagonists at every turn, never taking no for an answer.
Sam’s room was legitimately my ultimate fantasy as an eight year old child. I was pretty much horse crazy and if my family had had the funds, it would definitely have showed.
I would have appreciated more about Sam’s dad, and maybe some more dialogue between them as at the beginning of the story it kind of led on that it would be about them and various issues to do with Sam’s Olympic training.
Another thing I thought the novel was kind of lacking in were scenes between the two girls. We missed a good chunk of their friendship developing, only to have the author give us snippets of things that had happened - like the two girls playing Angry Birds on Sam’s iPhone. Sometimes a lot of time passed between chapters, which was a little detrimental as I felt we missed out on integral development between the characters.
But overall, the story was light and charming, and would be a good addition to any middle schoolers bookshelf, especially if they love horses as much as the main characters do. Kudos, Maggie Dana, you’ve got a blue ribbon here.
Rating: 4/5 stars
★★★★✰
No comments:
Post a Comment