My Story, The Earthquake! The diary of Katie Bourke by J.M

[Lee_93]

The Earthquake! The diary of Katie Bourke, Napier, 1930 - 31, is a book written by Janine McVeagh. This book is a part of the My Story series.
This book is released by Scholastic, and is usually read by children between the ages of 8-12 years. And although I am 20 years old I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It reminds me of the way that I used to write in my diary as a young girl. And even though it is set in the 1930s I see many similarities between the way this 11-12 year old girl thought and felt about the things that went on in my own life at that age.
This book is written in a diary format by a young girl in Napier, New Zealand in the 1930s. Her name is Katie Bourke and her diary begins on the day of her fathers funeral. She decides that she is going to write in it so that it is like telling her daddy what is going on her life.
This diary is set in the depression and then gos on to explain what happens in the wake of the earthquake of 1931. Most of the book is spent on how Katie wants to help her family make money and how she feels about her life and her oldest brother returning, who she has never met.
I loved this book and the way that it was written. My only problem with it is that I thought for a book that was titled Earthquake, I thought that it revolved to much around the events that came before it.
To McVeagh's credit the last part of the book where it talks about the earthquake was gripping, thought provoking and had a lot of feeling tied to it for the reader. I also enjoyed the little historic information part at the end and the pictures before and after the devastating earthquake.
I also enjoyed the fact that the picture on the cover of the little girl was her mother, who at the time of the earthquake was living in Napier.
All in all i loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who either wants a quick and beautiful read or to someone that has a passion for history and diaries.