Monday, August 29, 2011

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Plain Kate


And I'm back. The summer is over, school is in session (I've got three in school this year), and I'm ready write, blog and tweet. Although I did take a break, I was reading and writing. At one point I was reading 3 different books at the same time. Today, I picked Plain Kate by Erin Bow. I won Plain Kate this summer and started reading it the first day I got it (I had to put down The Graveyard Book till I finished). This is a great story and, can I just say, I love this cover.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow
Published in September 2010

Other books by this author:
Sorrow's Knot (coming in Fall 2012)

The Hook: When young Kate loses her woodcarving father to a disease that spreads through her village, she must survive on her own. To surive, she trades her shadow to a stranger for supplies to escape her town but soon discovers not having a shadow could be more dangerous.

Why I liked this book: Great adventure and characters. The story moves fairly quickly and you find yourself caring about Kate and what happens to her. The talking cat, Taggle, is also quite a character. There are some dark moments in the story that might be too scary for younger middle graders and the death of Kate's dad may be troubling to younger middle graders. This is a girl book but boys who enjoy a bit of magic and adventure may like it (although the beginning may be a bit slow for them).

Want More? Erin Bow has an excellent website.

Other Fabulous MMGMers: