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A review by caitcoy
Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
4.0
Father told me not to brood when people judged me for my wrapper, not my filling, or I would spend my whole life in the steamer.
I've read a fair amount in the young adult genre but it's not often that a historical fiction novel so completely captures my attention and my heart. Under a Painted Sky is a brilliantly researched story about losing everything and the salvation of friendship against the backdrop of the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush.
The story of Under a Painted Sky is the story of an unlikely friendship. Running from the law, a young Chinese-American girl named Samantha journeys west with a runaway slave named Annamae. In order to escape undetected, the girls become boys and take on the names of Sammy and Andy. At first they struggle along the trail on their own but eventually they cross paths with a band of cowboys and bonds of trust and experience begin to grow between the young people. But as the law starts to close in on them, Sammy and Andy must choose who they can trust and which relationships they are willing to bet their lives on in their quest to make it to California.
Without a doubt, the greatest strengths of Under a Painted Sky are the research done by the author and the friendship she builds between Sammy and Andy. I'll tackle the former first. Our class was lucky enough to have Stacey Lee speak to us over Skype (which was an amazing experience) and she mentioned that several years of research went into writing the book. It truly shows. There are some YA historical fiction stories in which the history feels like a backdrop rather than an integral part of the story. Not so with Under a Painted Sky. This is particularly impressive given that Sammy and Andy come from minority cultures that are often overlooked, particularly in YA fiction. Instead, Lee put in time reading pioneer diaries and former slave memoirs as well as history books and the result is that it feels like living, breathing history. Under a Painted Sky doesn't feel like it's trying to teach history so much as it's making the history a living part of the story and it fully immerses the reader into it.
And the friendship between the girls was amazing. Sammy and Andy come from very different backgrounds with very different outlooks on life and plans. Yet circumstances bring them together and their mutual outsider status helps to cement the bond between them. By the end, they're more sisters than friends or companions. The personal growth throughout the book was both impressive and compelling.
If you need a YA historical fiction to read or recommend, Under a Painted Sky should be at the top of the list! I hadn't read anything by Stacey Lee before and heard relatively little about this title last year but it was seriously impressive and I will certainly be picking up anything written by her in the future.
I've read a fair amount in the young adult genre but it's not often that a historical fiction novel so completely captures my attention and my heart. Under a Painted Sky is a brilliantly researched story about losing everything and the salvation of friendship against the backdrop of the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush.
The story of Under a Painted Sky is the story of an unlikely friendship. Running from the law, a young Chinese-American girl named Samantha journeys west with a runaway slave named Annamae. In order to escape undetected, the girls become boys and take on the names of Sammy and Andy. At first they struggle along the trail on their own but eventually they cross paths with a band of cowboys and bonds of trust and experience begin to grow between the young people. But as the law starts to close in on them, Sammy and Andy must choose who they can trust and which relationships they are willing to bet their lives on in their quest to make it to California.
Without a doubt, the greatest strengths of Under a Painted Sky are the research done by the author and the friendship she builds between Sammy and Andy. I'll tackle the former first. Our class was lucky enough to have Stacey Lee speak to us over Skype (which was an amazing experience) and she mentioned that several years of research went into writing the book. It truly shows. There are some YA historical fiction stories in which the history feels like a backdrop rather than an integral part of the story. Not so with Under a Painted Sky. This is particularly impressive given that Sammy and Andy come from minority cultures that are often overlooked, particularly in YA fiction. Instead, Lee put in time reading pioneer diaries and former slave memoirs as well as history books and the result is that it feels like living, breathing history. Under a Painted Sky doesn't feel like it's trying to teach history so much as it's making the history a living part of the story and it fully immerses the reader into it.
And the friendship between the girls was amazing. Sammy and Andy come from very different backgrounds with very different outlooks on life and plans. Yet circumstances bring them together and their mutual outsider status helps to cement the bond between them. By the end, they're more sisters than friends or companions. The personal growth throughout the book was both impressive and compelling.
If you need a YA historical fiction to read or recommend, Under a Painted Sky should be at the top of the list! I hadn't read anything by Stacey Lee before and heard relatively little about this title last year but it was seriously impressive and I will certainly be picking up anything written by her in the future.