_astridedwards_'s review
5.0
One of the most influential books of my childhood, and the first to spur my love for the environment. First published in 1986, [b:My Sister Sif|645118|My Sister Sif|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346766424s/645118.jpg|89422] was YA and CliFi before anyone even recognised such genres.
[a:Ruth Park|53234|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240197496p2/53234.jpg] weaves reality with fantasy: set in our world, the young Erika travels back to her her native island Rongo with her big sister Sif. There, we meet their family - mermen and merwomen fighting to protect their ocean and suffering the consequences of environmental damage all around them.
[b:My Sister Sif|645118|My Sister Sif|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346766424s/645118.jpg|89422] is an excellent introduction to issues of the environment for teenagers and young adults (particularly girls). Give it to all of the teenagers you know.
[a:Ruth Park|53234|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240197496p2/53234.jpg] weaves reality with fantasy: set in our world, the young Erika travels back to her her native island Rongo with her big sister Sif. There, we meet their family - mermen and merwomen fighting to protect their ocean and suffering the consequences of environmental damage all around them.
[b:My Sister Sif|645118|My Sister Sif|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346766424s/645118.jpg|89422] is an excellent introduction to issues of the environment for teenagers and young adults (particularly girls). Give it to all of the teenagers you know.
tanyak's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
readwithwine's review
5.0
I have reread this book many times. Would have been around 2004/2005 after when it was set. Very conservationist and the main character being female was something I clung to growing up!! I dreamed of growing up and working in marine biology. Having this science part but mixing in the islands and the fantasy was just everything I adored and still love. Even though Ive outgrown that age I treasure this book so much.
kathryn08's review
3.0
I read this in high school and was keen to re-read it again as I could only remember bits and pieces about it.
It was a more conservationist story than I recalled, and I couldn’t remember the ending at all. It was interesting that it was set in 2000, which at the time I read it, was still in the future, but it was written in 1986, which is the year that the main character of the book was born in. I don’t know whether this occurred to me when I first read it, but this time around, I wondered why it was set only slightly into the future - maybe Ruth Park thought our world was degenerating faster than it was, and if she set it too far ahead, climate change would happen earlier than in the book. And I guess she may have wanted it to be a warning - to look to our care of the planet and make changes while we still could.
I do remember reading it the first time, and thinking I'd quite like to go to Rongo - before anything happens to it - and I felt the same on this reading. 3.5★
It was a more conservationist story than I recalled, and I couldn’t remember the ending at all. It was interesting that it was set in 2000, which at the time I read it, was still in the future, but it was written in 1986, which is the year that the main character of the book was born in. I don’t know whether this occurred to me when I first read it, but this time around, I wondered why it was set only slightly into the future - maybe Ruth Park thought our world was degenerating faster than it was, and if she set it too far ahead, climate change would happen earlier than in the book. And I guess she may have wanted it to be a warning - to look to our care of the planet and make changes while we still could.
I do remember reading it the first time, and thinking I'd quite like to go to Rongo - before anything happens to it - and I felt the same on this reading. 3.5★
amythebookbat's review
3.0
Interesting story about a young girl named Riko/Erika and her older sister Sif/Sarah. Their family is from a mostly unknown island called Rongo. After the death of their father, they moved to live with their older sister Joanne in Sydney, Australia. Sif becomes so homesick that Riko finds a way to help her go back to Rongo and then later follows herself.
While on Rongo, they meet a man named Henry Jacka, a scientist. They have a family secret that Henry figures out. He tries to help their family, but due to ecological problems, they leave the island. Sif and Erika are left behind. At this point, the story becomes extremely heavy-handed with the ecology message, which is very important, but feels like it is being pounded into the reader. The last chapter feels rushed as it wraps everything up.
I will say that the island as described when we first arrive there with Riko & Sif sounds absolutely amazing and like a place I would like to visit. By the end of the book, not so much.
While on Rongo, they meet a man named Henry Jacka, a scientist. They have a family secret that Henry figures out. He tries to help their family, but due to ecological problems, they leave the island. Sif and Erika are left behind. At this point, the story becomes extremely heavy-handed with the ecology message, which is very important, but feels like it is being pounded into the reader. The last chapter feels rushed as it wraps everything up.
I will say that the island as described when we first arrive there with Riko & Sif sounds absolutely amazing and like a place I would like to visit. By the end of the book, not so much.
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