Third Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

The Secrets of Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. Harper Collins Publishers, 2006. Genre: Realistic Fiction This sequel to the book Peaches begins right where the first one left off; the last days of summer before Murphy and Leeda start their senior year of high school and Birdie her last year of homeschooling before college. Leeda has just been nominated as Pecan Queen for the annual Thanksgiving parade, and agrees to hold the position reluctantly because of her mother's pleading. Murphy and Rex are still going strong, until Murphy asks him if he would be willing to come with her to NYU if she gets accepted. Birdie is very excited because Enrico has invited her to come spend the New Year with him and his family in Mexico; before she leaves, though, she is starting to see a drastic change take place with her housekeeper and second mother, Poopie, who lived in the same town as Enrico until moving to Georgia to help out on the Darlington Peach Orchard. Birdie initially thinks that it has something to do with homesickness, but then she makes a startling discovery about the relationship between Poopie and Birdie's recently divorced father. "This year, Murphy, Leeda, and Birdie discover that bitter endings can lead to sweet new beginnings . . . and that the orchard that brought them together will always be a part of them— even if they leave it behind." Borders website After reading this book, I think that the author's strongest point in writing is making everything very suspenseful for the reader, especially since so many things are happening in the book over the course of one school year. For example, she has effectively used foreshadowing and allusions to help the reader either understand whats going on or to keep a vital secret from us until the right moment; I like this because then the reader can be surprised right along with the characters when something big happens. The author also wrote from the perspectives of all three girls, and it was nice to see how an event in the eyes of Leeda could be seen differently or hold more importance when it is revisited by Murphy or Birdie. "Poopie was staring at Birdie as if she was frozen. How much had she seen? Did she know about her and Enrico in the shed? Would she tell Birdie's father?" (157) Initially, I had meant to read the original book Peaches by this same author on a recommendation from a classmate, but found myself instead with its sequel. Despite this little mix-up, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I certainly am interested in reading the first book to find out how all of these girls met each other. I think that this author has a very intriguing writing style, and she is able to make the reader feel compassion towards the main characters quickly and get us to care about their problems.