Beamis12

When she was nine, Jessica Vye was told by an author visiting her school that she WAS AN AUTHOR INDEED." This was after she had run home, gotten everything she had written and caught up with the author before he boarded her train. He sent her back that message in the mail, several months later. She of course never forgot it and it shaped her life.

World War ll and the world of ration cards, air raid shelters and gas masks had become part of everyday life in England. Jessica is quirky, she is very head strong and very vocal, unable to keep to her self what she thinks, this has made her popular with some, but unpopular with many. We follow along with her as she experiences her first crush, as she puts herself in danger, luckily living through a bombing. I loved her character and that of Miss Philomen, an elderly teacher who had been published. She was very observant, eccentric and a delight. So much of this coming of age story is.

Another offering from Nancy Pearl on NPR and a re-issue from thepublisher. I love this author's writing, she is extremely talented with dialogue, and apparently this was the first book this author wrote. So the maturity of her later novels is missing but I think all the more delightful because of that.

Lastly Jessica Vye reminds me of myself at that age and it was very easy for me to relate to her, especially when I read these lines "I wish I read slower as a matter of fact because I can't get books to last." A girl after my own heart.