Thursday, October 24, 2013

Book Review: Eight Keys by Suzanne Lafleur


Eight Keys by Suzanne Lafleur is a beautiful book with a great writing style⎯but what book by Suzanne Lafleur isn’t? I just finished re-reading it for like the hundredth time and it currently is my favorite book! **SPOILERS AHEAD**

The story is about a girl named Elise. Elise’s parents died when she was young, so she lives with her Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh. In the beginning of the book, Elise starts middle school, and suddenly everything is different. After an unfortunate incident in the woods, she has become the target for bullying and teasing at her new school, particularly by her locker partner, who finds immense fun in ruining her lunch every day. Elise always had her best friend Franklin to turn to, but now, to Elise, he seems babyish and is unintentionally embarrassing her. At the same time, her aunt’s sister Annie and her baby daughter Ava move into Elise’s house, seeming to interrupt and sometimes ruin her wonderful life with her aunt and uncle. Things just keep getting worse⎯until Elise finds a key. A key with her name on it. A key that starts an adventure of discoveries. A key that unlocks one of the upstairs rooms in the barn, rooms that have been locked up for as long as Elise can remember....

I was reading reviews on this book and it seemed to me like one thing people didn’t like was that it seemed to them like the message going over was “Telling an adult about a bully doesn’t help.” They didn’t like that message. However, I don’t see that message at all. When Elise tells her teacher, I can agree that her teacher doesn’t seem to care the first and second times; but when she tells her aunt and uncle, they do do something about it— they give her advice on how to handle it. Maybe some readers wanted Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh to go storm to the school and demand Elise be treated fairly. But in reality, maybe they wanted Elise to try to manage it herself, for her to have courage to stand up for herself. And that is a definite message that is sent.

Personally, I can not find anything I do not like about this book! Everything Elise endures—whether it’s good or bad—winds together and twists together to create one unforgettable story of mystery, friendships, and a few keys that happen to unlock secrets from the past. I can guarantee this is a book you will never regret reading.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A Book Review: Listening for Lucca by Suzanne Lafleur



Wow! I finished this book not so long ago, and wow it is a fantastic book! It had an element of fantasy to it, yet was realistic enough to seem like real life. Siena’s story seems like it could be easily real. **SPOILERS AHEAD**

The story is: Siena is not your everyday, normal 13-year-old. Ever since her two-year-old brother Lucca stopped talking for reasons no doctor can explain, she’s started a collection of old, abandoned things. Siena also has visions of the past and has been dreaming of a house by the sea—not daydreaming, but literal, when-she’s-asleep dreaming. When her family decides to move, they find an old house that strikingly resembles the one from Siena’s dream. When they get there, Siena discovers a pen marked with the initials SEA—and when she uses it to write in an old journal, the pen writes its own story, about a girl named Sarah who lived in the same house during World War II! As time goes on and Siena starts finding items from Sarah’s story, she discovers that, like Lucca, Sarah stopped talking. Did she ever talk again? Could she be the key to unlocking Lucca’s voice?

I think it was a great story and fantastic writing! I will note that it is a bit higher reading level than Love, Aubrey and Eight Keys (Suzanne Lafleur’s other books), and it has a couple of more mature concepts (the main character is a teenager, after all).
My favorite parts were: when Siena finds the clues from the past relating to Sarah, and of course, when Lucca starts to talk! When he does it is such amazing writing. You have come to love Siena and Lucca at this point, so when he says the first words you’ve heard him say, it’s first breathtaking, then you just want to grin and laugh. And it also adds to the mysterious element.

I have to say, the only thing at first I was unsure about was: There is some “ghost” sections in the story, in terms of, Siena, using her visions-of-the-past power, goes into Sarah’s body, back in time to the house when it was Sarah’s, and talks back in time to Sarah’s big brother Joshua. As I said, at first I was unsure about it—but it all merged together in the end and made the story even better, so no complaints!

Ending note: Amazing, amazing, amazing story. If you haven’t read it already (which I hope you have, if you’re reading this, because I just gave away part of the story) definitely go for it. I recommend this book to anybody ages 9 & up. It most definitely does not deserve five stars. It deserves ten. ;)