A Simple Gift

by Nancy Ruth Patterson

Finding the courage to make amends

Ten-year-old Carrie O’Connor wants to be an actress. After starring as a singing tooth in her class play at a New York City school, she convinces her parents to let her audition for a summer theater production in the mountains of North Carolina. And not just any production – it is a play based on a beloved children’s book written by her own mother! By virtue of a plucky audition (and not, she makes certain, her relation to the book’s author), Carrie is invited to join the cast. But as Michael Madigan’s Curtain Call wends its way toward opening night, Carrie makes a blunder so big it threatens to topple the whole production.

Young readers will identify with this spunky young heroine as she finds a way to put things right – and makes some unexpected discoveries about her writer-mother’s past in the process.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an old-tyme feel to it, and I like that. I like the simple things, the basics of life, learning to get along, learning from mistakes. I like kids, and I like theater and plays, and books, and little rhymes and songs and everyday challenges. This book has all of that, and it's a very quick read. I think a third or fourth grader would like it, especially if they enjoy any of the aforementioned;-)

[Aileen Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Simple Gift is simply marvelous. Ten year old Carrie O'Conner is selected to be in a play and learns valuable lessons along the way. The lessons of acceptance, forgiveness, and giving, mingled with revelations from her mother's past make her brief summer vacation a remarkable journey and draws her even closer to the family she loves dearly.

[Rick Thirde · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's not much to care about in this story. It's hard to explain, but the book just feels unfocused, and I'm not sure why we should care about Carrie. She does whatever she wants like a spoiled brat, and her parents don't guide or rebuke her. Carrie's mother is also a character who is present throughout the novel, but doesn't actually do anything other than be the author whose book is turned into the play Carrie is in. Nancy Ruth Patterson, in her dedication and included mini-bio, also hints that the events of this book were from her own childhood. This book feels like a bland, semi-fictionalized account.