Review of Strong Heart
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Cori Jenkins
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- Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
Review of Strong Heart
[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]
Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a magical tale of thirteen-year-old Sarah and her backpacking journeys in Olympic National Park. Parts of the journey are dark and scary but nothing too graphic.
Sarah is very angry and is acting out. She recently lost her mother and has been sent to live with a grandmother she has never met. Grandmother, Ruth, cannot handler her so Sarah finds herself deposited on Grandfather Tom’s doorstep. When Sarah arrived Tom, his best friend William and William’s daughter are preparing to backpack the Olympic Peninsula to visit Tom’s grandfather’s grave and retrieve something Tom left hidden. Sarah becomes lost and returns with a tale that is hard to believe and is very reminiscent of a vision quest. Sarah is very much a changed person when she returns. Tom lost his granddaughter for several days which angered his ex-wife. Ruth took Sarah back, but Sarah was acting strange. Sarah runs away to Myra and is terrified to go back. Myra takes Sarah to her grandfather.
The Buckhorn corporation wants to do some mining on the Olympic Peninsula and Fletcher Lynch wants to build the Fletcher Lynch Human Dispersal Center to honor the first people in North America, the Clovis. If the Clovis can be proven to not be the first people, the mining and the Center can be stopped.
Upon returning to Tom another trip to the Olympic National Park was planned as things were left unfinished on the first trip. A friend of Tom’s, Sergei is a scientist and joins this trek into the back country. Sarah reveals more of her vision quest. There is tension with the Buckhorn employees and violence breaks out. Now they need to get back but there are forest fires all around...
Strong Heart was enjoyable to read. It had a good flow, and the imagery really brought the travels to life. I really enjoyed how the vision quest was woven into the base story. The book is well written with few errors. There is history to be learned about the movement of the early people and the Clovis.
The book was a little too long for my liking. Parts of the vision quest was convoluted, and it was easy to become lost. I found a couple of errors but overall, it was well written and well edited.
I would recommend this book for those that enjoy Indigenous tales. There are some references to kidnapping so would probably be best for 12 and older. I truly enjoyed this book, so I do not feel there is an upper age limit for enjoyment. I would give Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon a 3 out of 4 and I encourage everyone to read it.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a magical tale of thirteen-year-old Sarah and her backpacking journeys in Olympic National Park. Parts of the journey are dark and scary but nothing too graphic.
Sarah is very angry and is acting out. She recently lost her mother and has been sent to live with a grandmother she has never met. Grandmother, Ruth, cannot handler her so Sarah finds herself deposited on Grandfather Tom’s doorstep. When Sarah arrived Tom, his best friend William and William’s daughter are preparing to backpack the Olympic Peninsula to visit Tom’s grandfather’s grave and retrieve something Tom left hidden. Sarah becomes lost and returns with a tale that is hard to believe and is very reminiscent of a vision quest. Sarah is very much a changed person when she returns. Tom lost his granddaughter for several days which angered his ex-wife. Ruth took Sarah back, but Sarah was acting strange. Sarah runs away to Myra and is terrified to go back. Myra takes Sarah to her grandfather.
The Buckhorn corporation wants to do some mining on the Olympic Peninsula and Fletcher Lynch wants to build the Fletcher Lynch Human Dispersal Center to honor the first people in North America, the Clovis. If the Clovis can be proven to not be the first people, the mining and the Center can be stopped.
Upon returning to Tom another trip to the Olympic National Park was planned as things were left unfinished on the first trip. A friend of Tom’s, Sergei is a scientist and joins this trek into the back country. Sarah reveals more of her vision quest. There is tension with the Buckhorn employees and violence breaks out. Now they need to get back but there are forest fires all around...
Strong Heart was enjoyable to read. It had a good flow, and the imagery really brought the travels to life. I really enjoyed how the vision quest was woven into the base story. The book is well written with few errors. There is history to be learned about the movement of the early people and the Clovis.
The book was a little too long for my liking. Parts of the vision quest was convoluted, and it was easy to become lost. I found a couple of errors but overall, it was well written and well edited.
I would recommend this book for those that enjoy Indigenous tales. There are some references to kidnapping so would probably be best for 12 and older. I truly enjoyed this book, so I do not feel there is an upper age limit for enjoyment. I would give Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon a 3 out of 4 and I encourage everyone to read it.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
