Young Llama Thoughts
-
Adventurous
-
Christian Friendly
-
Easy Reading
-
Humerous
-
Youth Appropriate
Overall
Review
The Leaving Year is an adventure about finding family, hope and forgiveness!
This book is about Ida Petrovich, a young women who loses her father at sea. All Ida has ever known is fishing and waiting for her dad to come home. So when questions about his past come up, Ida decides it’s time for her to spread her wings and find her own answers. From across Alaska, she sets out to learn who her father really was, and if there is more to his story than was told.
I liked this book. It was a wonderful story, filled with mystery and adventure. I love the history of Alaska and the stories you learn while your reading. The canning industry is in the book which is also fascinating! (If not a bit gross) This book is for young ladies 16 and up.
Now there are curse words, drugs and alcohol in the book. Not too many, but they are there. There is also adult topics in the book. (CODE WORDS!) Mention of fisherman being unfaithful to their families. Mention of the word ‘ex, though it doesn’t happen, it is brought up. (Page 320 does almost lead to ‘ex, but they don’t have protection so nothing happens) There is also LOTS of mention of the word, Con and Dom. The book mentions how that is given to youth centers to prevent pregnancy. Unfortunate but it is there.
Overall, I enjoyed this book but I think some of the topics un-needed. It is a good book, but the last 3rd seems to be a bit more worldly than I like reading. -The Young Llama Reader.
Pros
- A story about family!
Cons
- Adult topics…
- Curse words
As the Summer of Love comes to an end, 15-year-old Ida Petrovich waits for a father who never comes home. While commercial fishing in Alaska, he is lost at sea, but with no body and no wreckage, Ida and her mother are forced to accept a “presumed” death that tests their already strained relationship. While still in shock over the loss of her father, Ida overhears an adult conversation that shatters everything she thought she knew about him.
This prompts her to set out on a search for the truth that takes her from her Washington State hometown to Southeast Alaska, where she works at a salmon cannery, develops love for a Filipino classmate, and befriends a Native Alaskan girl. In this wild, rugged place, she also begins to understand the physical and emotional bonds that took her father north and why he kept them secret—a journey of discovery that ultimately brings her family together and helps them heal.
