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sundaereads 's review for:
The Hired Girl
by Laura Amy Schlitz
If you like Anne of Green Gables or Jane Eyre or any other plucky young orphan making her way in the world and keeping a diary, you'll find The Hired Girl to be a good addition to the genre.
I've seen some reviews that complain about how much religion is in this book, and it's true that it's heavy-handed. But it's also in keeping with the main character and her experiences. She's a devout and very innocent Catholic girl in 1911. Of course she's going to view the world through the lens of Catholicism and take all her concerns to the Blessed Mother in prayer, and worry about sinning. The fact that she is taken in and hired by a Jewish family made it possible for Joan to take a closer look at her faith and learn that Jews are good people, too.
As a non-believer with a strong background in religion (it was my college minor), I liked the way the author took Joan through questioning her faith and learning about another.
However, I'm not sure how much this will appeal to its intended audience of YA readers. I read it because it's on the NC middle school Battle of the Books list, and the students who are also reading this are 6th graders. I'm interested to know how they will react to the story.
I've seen some reviews that complain about how much religion is in this book, and it's true that it's heavy-handed. But it's also in keeping with the main character and her experiences. She's a devout and very innocent Catholic girl in 1911. Of course she's going to view the world through the lens of Catholicism and take all her concerns to the Blessed Mother in prayer, and worry about sinning. The fact that she is taken in and hired by a Jewish family made it possible for Joan to take a closer look at her faith and learn that Jews are good people, too.
As a non-believer with a strong background in religion (it was my college minor), I liked the way the author took Joan through questioning her faith and learning about another.
However, I'm not sure how much this will appeal to its intended audience of YA readers. I read it because it's on the NC middle school Battle of the Books list, and the students who are also reading this are 6th graders. I'm interested to know how they will react to the story.