Feathered

Reviewed by: Ann Marie Townsend - South Berwick Public Liibrary, South Berwick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: October 11, 2016

Review

A middle school novel about eleven year-old Finch, set in the 1980's. Finch wants a family like the show Little House on the Prairie, but her father died of cancer, her mother is depressed, her older brother is hanging around with Matt, who is a bully and sexually harasses her, she doesn't have any friends, her teacher calls her dumb, and the little girl next door can't come outside. Despite many problems, Finch learns to cope, stand up for those she cares for and grows. Issues are solved, maybe too quickly. For a quick read, many issues are included that can be discussed, sexual harassment, grief, bullying both from students and from the teacher, harassment of neighbors from India, and finally an attempted abduction by the father who wants to take his daughters back to India. The writing is very descriptive and flows well and compels you to read on and to want Finch to be happy. I don't feel the issues about the teacher was handled well, maybe too many problems were packed into one book. The scene with the bully knocking the nest out of a tree and killing the chicks was perhaps too graphic for the intended audience.

Overall Book Score: good