imperfectcj 's review for:

Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes

3.0

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This is another from my son's Build Your Library booklist. It's a cute enough book (I was going to say "sweet"), but a little lacking in subtlety. The characters are largely indistinct, and there are at least two historically/factually questionable points I noticed (one relating to the timing of the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the other to the sound a bald eagle makes). The age of the main character is a little unclear, as well. Early on, she mentions being alive for 15 years, but later says she's 10, which makes more sense based on how she acts. The author has good points to make, they just aren't made as artfully as they could have been, which is pretty common for middle-grade novels, in my experience.