Reviewed by JackieMarchant
There’s so much to like
about the main character of this book, twelve year old Darby. She lives for the moment, she dishes out hugs
as frequently as she recovers from upsets, she is kind, loving and
forgiving. She loves dancing with her
headphones on full-blast and she loves chocolate. She has a habit of wandering off to try and solve
things, even though she knows this exasperates her parents. But the thing I love best about Darby is that
she accepts everyone for who, and what, they are.
Still, it’s very hard for
Darby when her big sister Kaydee has a girlfriend over for the weekend. Kaydee and Darby are close and this newcomer
doesn’t like it when Darby barges into Kaydee’s bedroom whenever she feels like
it. And, when it becomes obvious that
Kaydee wants to spend time alone with her best friend, Darby finds that hard to
bear.
Unfortunately, her
parents’ strawberry farm is in crisis, due to a weekend of storms that threaten
to cause damage enough to seriously impact their livelihood. This means that Mum and Dad are not so ready
to sympathise and Darby’s big brother Olly isn’t much help either –he’s far
more interested in the newcomer. All of
this is very muddling and Darby has to do a lot of earphone-dancing to keep
ahead of things.
Things come to a head
when the high winds threaten to spoil Mum’s annual chocolate egg hunt. Especially as everyone seems cross with Darby
and she can’t quite grasp why – giving away Kaydee’s secret was a complete
accident and not really her fault. As
for why Olly is cross, she has no idea.
If only she could tell
her family to get a grip, but sometimes it’s difficult to find the right words
to express what you want to say. Especially
when you have Down’s syndrome.
This is a book with a
real heart – as well as strawberries and chocolate. What’s not to like?
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1 comment:
Quite agree, Jackie, it's a lovely book, with a great heroine. An excellent read.
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