I love a book with a strong female lead character, so right off the bat I knew that I would enjoy this story. There is a distinct lack of strong female role models in popular young adults fiction lately, girls who don’t depend on a boyfriend to get you out of trouble or ones who can’t step 2 feet away from their bloodsucker boyfriend for fear of not being able to walk correctly.
Bree McCready is your average girl, schlumping through school and putting up with the banalities of everyday life, until she wins a locket for best limerick.
And of course, this isn’t just any old locket. It has a mate. And with that mate comes the knowledge that she, Bree McCready, only has to save the world. In one night. That’s all. No problem for a self sufficient girl!
This tale will have children eagerly flipping the pages to see what comes next and how the story ends. I love how true to life the story is, Bree has many issues from her past to work through in this book as well as save the world and one of my favorite parts is that she doesn’t come from a stereotypical family. In this interview with the author, she explains “The fact Bree comes from a one parent family and lives in a neglected part of town was a deliberate attempt to steer away from the stereotypical family life that is so often depicted in children’s literature.” If you follow the link you can read the rest of the interview with Hazel Allen about this book.
Reading level: teen
Page Count: 256 pages
Publisher: Strident Publishing Limited; 1st edition edition (13 Aug 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: Twelve-year-old Bree McCready has a mission: she has just one night to save the world! It starts when a clue inscribed on a Half-Heart Locket leads Bree and her best friends Sandy and Honey to an ancient magical book. With it they can freeze time, fly and shrink to the size of ants. But they soon discover the book has a long history of destruction and death. And it s being sought by the monstrous Thalofedril, who will stop at nothing to get it. Using its incredible powers, he could turn the world into a wasteland. Bree, Sandy and Honey go on the run hurtling off city rooftops, down neck-breaking ravines, and through nightblack underground tunnels to keep the book out of his lethal hands. Little do they know that the greatest danger of all lies ahead, in the heart of his deadly lair… Can Bree find the courage to face this terrifying evil, and to confront the secrets of her tragic past? Punchy and exciting, this is a thrilling page-turner from a dazzling new talent.
About the Author: Hazel Allan lives in Edinburgh with her young son, and dreams of one day living in a white cottage filled with cats. Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket is her first novel.