I recently joined netgalley where you can read and review upcoming or recently published books. I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson was the first book I have received from them courtesy of the Lerner Publishing Group. I requested this book because it sounded light and fun and I really wanted to read the story of a girl named Am A Freak.
I, Emma Freke is the story of a girl who feels that she does not fit in and her journey to try find a place where she does. Emma is very tall, very bright and has very few friends. This, she feels, makes her a freak. Her mother is completely hopeless and Emma pretty much has to fend for herself. This involves running her mothers shop almost single handedly, attempting to home school herself and most importantly going to a family reunion. The Freke family, her fathers family whom she has never met before, are not what I was expecting and I found the whole reunion very strange at first and then very funny when I finally realised what was going on. Whilst at the family reunion Emma finally finds what she has been looking for, she learns a few lessons about being herself and not letting it matter quite so much if you don’t fit in.
I am 26 and this is a book about a 12 year old, usually this would bother me because I don't really like reading books about characters this young but in this case I found myself enjoying the story so much that character age became irrelevant. Emma did not give the impression of being someone so young, she seemed much older I think due to her home life and the responsibilities she had. In fact I found that her mother and grandfather seemed to fit the role of children more than Emma did.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this novel was Emma's best friend Penelope she was cute, bright and completely fearless. In fact I liked Penelope so much that it would be great if she could have her own book, she had a very interesting back story and home life that would be good to see more of.
Overall I thought this was a great book with a great message for readers of all ages.
That's all for now.
I just read this book over the weekend. I don't usually read middle school age young adult either, but I'm glad I read this one. I loved Penelope, but my favorite character was her cousin Fred. There was just something about him that I could relate to and empathize with.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks for checking out my Waiting on Wednesday post today. I'm a new follower of your blog. I can't wait to check out more of your posts!