Thursday, April 9, 2009

Map of the Known World: Gold Star

Anger and pain consume Cora; they have since last year when her brother died. Now her family’s broken, barely speaking to each other and barely surviving. Nate’s the one who died, but Cora feels the brunt of her parent’s disappointment, sadness, and anger. She’s not allowed out after dark, she must come straight home from school, and she can’t get into a car without aparent’s approval. All summer long, she’s spent the days inside her room imagining the places in the world she’d rather be, while drawing maps and pictures of her travels. Now she must face reality and start high school.

She doesn’t enter as an unknown, but as the sister of her dead brother. Everyone knew Nate, but not everyone liked him. Cora’s just trying to survive, but along the way her heart opens. She talks to her brother’s best friend, who was in the car that night, and things change. He shows her a side of her brother she didn’t know.

Lisa Ann Sandell writes a breathtakingly beautiful and heart-wrenching novel that will haunt you long after you’re finished.

As you can see, I loved this book. I gave it the GOLD STAR award.



Plus, I made flair for it:

5 comments:

Melissa Walker said...

Reading this right now! Love the flair.

Lisa Schroeder said...

Oooh - I'm excited to read this one!

Michelle B. said...

I love the cover to this book so much. It's so beautiful. I've been reading so many good reviews about it as well! Yours has made me want to read it even more. :)

Liyana said...

Great review! It seems kind of sad that's she's known as Nate's brother first, and herself later. But I guess that's the book's charm.

Miriam said...

Hmmm...haven't heard of this one before, but now I'm thinking I should order it. When I have book ordering money again, that is.