3 out of 4 stars
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Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is an adventure of a young teenage girl named Sarah who has been sent to stay with her grandfather near the Olympic National Park on the Pacific Coast. Sarah is somewhat of a troubled girl who has been tossed around to different family members, and this book uses magical realism to explore her experience while on a hike through the park with her grandfather and his friends.
At the beginning of the book, the author introduces us to Tom who is Sarah's grandfather and Tom's friends, William and Myra. These characters have family connections to Native American tribes that have lived along that part of the Pacific Coast in the past. Shortly after the book begins, Sarah is brought to live with Tom for awhile. From the beginning, she is presented as a troubled girl who has obviously suffered emotional problems. She has not had a steady family life.
Sarah later ends up on a hike through the Olympic National Park with Tom, William, and Myra as they are headed out to visit the grave of Tom's grandfather. Sarah has a very strong will and is determined to do many things her own way. As a result of this, she ends up lost for several days in the park. When found, she gives a thorough and quite magical account of what she believes she experienced throughout the time that she was lost. Her story may or may not have connections to true happenings of the Native Americans that lived in that area in the past. Her grandfather and his friends, along with some other various characters who are introduced throughout the book, are unsure whether to believe anything she says or to write it off as just the mixed-up thoughts of a disturbed girl.
I feel like Sheldon did a good job of showing Sarah's range of emotions. I could feel that Sarah had a deep emotional need for acceptance like many young people of this age tend to experience. Hers was magnified, though, because of the brokenness in her family. The magical realism was a good approach to take by the author because many times at that age, young people are struggling somewhere in the middle of childhood and adulthood. They tend to cling to the magical aspects of life that may either be imaginary or somewhat connected to real happenings, but are overlooked by the mind of an adult.
Overall, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I am not rating the full 4 stars because several times, I became confused with the connections between the characters. I had to really slow down to figure out who everybody was and what their purpose was. I feel like Sarah was the most developed of the characters, and I'm sure that may have been the purpose because of how much the meaning of the story revolved around her. However, I feel like there was not enough deep understanding of the adults in the story. Their parts in the story seemed to involve more bland wordiness instead of any emotional understanding. I did enjoy following Sarah's emotional growth, though, and for that reason, I will not give it any less than 3 stars.
I do recommend this book, especially for those who may enjoy some magical aspects in a story, and also for anyone interested in historical legends, as it dealt a lot with the characters' Native American ancestry. It is overall, an interesting book to read.
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Strong Heart
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