Thunderwith - Libby Hathorn

[goodreads]

Title: Thunderwith Author: Libby Hathorn Genre: YA Rating: 8/10 # pages: 311 Date read: December, 2007

Summary: Lara has just lost her mother to cancer; a search by kindly neighbors turns up Dad, whom she barely remembers. The two quickly form a comfortable bond, but Dad's new wife, Gladwyn, and their four kids are less welcoming. Gladwyn's resentment borders on hatred; she declares openly that there's no room for Lara in the one-room shack where they live, eking out a meager living from a vegetable garden and hoping to make a profit on newly planted palm seedlings. Dad is gone on business, with almost no communication, for months; a neighbor who rides on Lara's school bus is a cruel bully. Grieving for her mother, Lara at first receives scant comfort except from Thunderwith, a dog she encounters in the hills. In time, she also makes friends with a sympathetic aboriginal storyteller, while her new siblings, one by one, come to love her.

Review: Sent to me by aurillia as a present. We usually share taste in books, so when she told me this was one of her favourites, I was certain I'd love it too.

And I did. It's an incredibly charming YA story. Sweet and sad at the same time. I really enjoyed the Aboriginal folklore included in the tale. While I did occasionally feel like shaking Lara to make her see sense, in the end she always ended up doing what I thought she ought to do :)

A beautiful book I'd gladly recommend to all YA readers.

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