Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn

This book was fun.  As I was reading, I started to think about when it was written.  Things reminded me of when I was growing up.  Things like combs in the back pocket made me wonder how old the book is.  I looked in the front of the book.  It said: "First Avon Camelot Printing: May 1995"  and it said copyright was 1983.  So then I understood because it was made back in the day when I was the girls age.  That was kind of fun to think about.

This is a book about a girl named Jessica.  Jessica is really shy.  She is paired up in class with a girl named Daphne.  She doesn't dislike Daphne but doesn't want to have people make fun of her like they make fun of Daphne.  She's afraid to say anything. 

But, as Daphne and Jessica work together to on their school project of a children's book they become close.  Daphne draws and Jessica writes the story.  Then Jessica learns something about Daphne that is a secret and it is a secret that might be too big for Jessica to handle. 

This book was well written and I enjoyed it.

December Stillness by Mary Downing Hahn

I finished this book last night. The last book I read of Mary Downing Hahn's I didn't recommend but this one I would recommend.

This is a story about a girl named Kelly McAllister.  She is given an assignment in her class to write about something controversial.  She decides to write about homeless people.  She tries to talk to Mr. Weems.  Mr. Weems is a homeless man who comes to the library each day.  Mr. Weems doesn't want help or friends.  This is a story of how she struggles to help this man and the reactions of the people around him.   It is a good read and I was able to really think about some of the issues.

I think this book could really help a youth to see this issue in a different perspective and discover along with Kelly more about Vietnam and about Homelessness and what a problem it can be.  A good handle on a controversial topic.

The Wind Blows Backward by Mary Downing Hahn

This book is about a girl who starts to hang out with an old best friend from her younger years.  Though she resists she finds she still likes him even though he wouldn't talk to her for many years.  Now he seems to want to share something with her.  She has to wait for him to share it when he is ready.  They become quite close and he does share his secret with her.

I probably wouldn't recommend this book. While this book gives me an idea of another way of thinking different from mine, I think I would have like to have spent my time on a different book.  I picked this one up because she was an author at the BYU Symposium on Books for young Readers.  I think she handled things well, but I would have rather had a book take a stand to not have sex before marriage.  I think she is a great author.  She weaves a great story and she writes with interest BUT it just wasn't my kind of book.