Oh.
My.
Gosh.
I’m pretty sure I’ve found my number one
book for 2015. And I can’t WAIT to tell
you about it—next.
What hope does 14-year-old Joan Skraggs have
for the future when her life is filled with
dirty chicken coops and dirtier privvies,
obnoxious brothers and a tyrannical father?
But Joan, like the heroines in her favorite
novels, still has dreams. She hungers for
larger, grander vistas, for art, and most
of all, for an education.
Plucky protagonist that she is, Joan successfully
makes her daring escape and lands a job as
a hired girl for a well-to-do family in Baltimore.
And even though Joan is too busy to think
of a real education at first, her religious,
philosophical, and artistic horizons quickly
begin to expand.
This book was a pure delight. Joan is by turns
bright and witty, and by others, petty and
imperfect. She is, after all, just 14. And
though she navigates her new circumstances
with surprising insight in some cases, she
also makes her share of blunders—which only
make her that much more lovable.
What I loved most of all, though, was Joan’s
voice. Her story—written in the form of
diary entries—is observed with wit, and
an eye for detail. I savored every word, and
I hope you will, too.
