Very good book. Characters were well-drawn and believable. An uplifting, feel-good story!! ( )

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Two seventh grade girls participate in a school exchange program where each spends 2 weeks at the others's home and school. The program is intended to confront stereotypes as well as let the girls see the similarities and differences between them.

Ivy June Mosley comes from small town, country Thunder Creek where she lives with her grandparents because her parents's home is too crowded. Catherine Combs lives in big city Lexington in a large house with plenty of space.

Both girls are mature enough to be good ambassadors for their schools and to work through the differences that come up as they spend time together. In the end though, they both end up being there for the other when tragedies hit the other's family. ( )

Being from Lexington, I was hoping that there would be a little more description in this book. I did like the Exchange Student aspect of the book, though I think that most of the "girls" were a little harsher than what I would expect. I cried and laughed right along with the girls. ( )

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

Hmm. I'm wondering if part of my apathy toward the book comes from reading it at the wrong time or something. It has all the pieces that I normally love in a story, but this time around it just felt a little tired. Then again, I'm tired, so who knows whether the book is to fault?

The characterization is pretty well done. Ivy June and Catherine are very typical twelve-year-olds, and they are painted with the right mixture of faults and merits to be neither saccarine angels or cliche cheeky devils. The characterization (now that I think about it a little more) might err slightly on the side of the generic, but it serves its purpose and is done very well.

The depiction of city life seemed really straight-on to me, warts and all. The attitude the "city folk" have toward their destitute neighbors is a very realistic cocktail of curiosity, snobbishness, pity, and (in some people) spite. I enjoyed watching Ivy June interact with the city for the first time, seeing my culture through the eyes of a newbie.

As for Ivy June's culture . . . I don't know. I was definitely stressing right alongside her when things got scary in the second half of the book, but when it comes to the town as a whole I had a hard time connecting. Do people really live like that, in America, in the 21st century? Are outhouses really still a thing out in rural areas? I have a hard time suspending my inside realist and accepting the fact that Ivy June lives such a ninteenth-century life. I couuld be completely wrong, though - I don't really know much about rural Kentuky. If anyone knows, I would love to learn whether this aspect of the story was realistic or not.

At the end of the day, I liked Faith, Hope, and Ivy June, but I wasn't swept away. I almost wanted more. The similarities and contrasts between Ivy June and Catherine was interesting, especially once things started going wrong in the second half of the book, but when I put the book down I felt almost apathetic toward it. Somehow I didn't really connect at all with the characters - I felt like I'd seen everything before. Perhaps you might be able to get more out of it than I did; I think it is a good book, it just didn't really do for me. ( )