Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Kathleen: The Celtic Knot by Siobhan Parkinson
Kathleen The Celtic Knot by Siobhan Parkinson is an American Girl book. This means that it is clean, wholesome, and heavy on the history. American Girl heroines are plucky, family oriented, cheerful, and a bit sassy. Luckily it is a fun little book.
A nun from school recommends that Kathleen take dancing lessons. Kathleen's family is poor and crowded into their small apartment trying to get by on a little money and a lot of love. It is implied that dancing will keep Kathleen out of trouble (though another girl from the class recently had a child out of wedlock). Kathleen is a natural at Irish step dancing but must struggle with the restrictions and stigma of being poor.
This book is listed as Intermediate Fiction but both an 11 and 12 year old girl read it in less than an afternoon and felt it was written for younger children though they were intrigued by the courting thread to the story (an Aunt not Kathleen). A 10 year old girl was enamoured of the story but didn't understand some of the more mature themes.
A nun from school recommends that Kathleen take dancing lessons. Kathleen's family is poor and crowded into their small apartment trying to get by on a little money and a lot of love. It is implied that dancing will keep Kathleen out of trouble (though another girl from the class recently had a child out of wedlock). Kathleen is a natural at Irish step dancing but must struggle with the restrictions and stigma of being poor.
This book is listed as Intermediate Fiction but both an 11 and 12 year old girl read it in less than an afternoon and felt it was written for younger children though they were intrigued by the courting thread to the story (an Aunt not Kathleen). A 10 year old girl was enamoured of the story but didn't understand some of the more mature themes.
# posted by JJ @ 1:18 PM 
