Willa's Poppy
by Chester Aaron
In Willa's Poppy, Willa Thornton knows what she wants - a bloodhound pup that she'll
name Poppy. She submits to a summer of tutoring to improve her grades when her parents agree
to buying her a pup, if she succeeds in turning around her school work. She does it in
spades and the puppy becomes a focal point for Willa finding herself. Overall, I really
liked this book. The pace is fast, and the emotion reads very true. The dialogue is sometimes
a bit overwritten, but the family still comes across as warm and real. The plot moves along
on a ragged course. Interspersed with the chapters about Willa and Poppy, we see little
newspaper reports of a young man spiraling from petty crime to extreme violence and we
know he will intersect Willa eventually. Once he does, the book continues to have a great
fast pace but I felt a bit cheated at the end. I wanted Poppy to play an essential role.
The plot seems destined to be about the love between Willa and Poppy - but the story's
resolution really didn't need Poppy at all. Perhaps that's for the best, letting Willa
move into success as a separate person, but still, it left me grumpy. But despite that -
I'm really glad I got to read this book, and I expect we'll be seeing even greater things
from Chester Aaron in the future. |
The Book |
Zumaya Publications |
September 2005 |
Trade paperback |
1554102820 |
Young Adult |
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Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The Reviewer |
Jan Fields |
Reviewed 2005 |
NOTE: Reviewer Jan
Fields is the editor of Kid Magazine Writers emagazine and has written dozens of
stories and articles for the children's magazine market. |
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