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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
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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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