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This book is rather lengthy for the YA genre at 400 pages, but it never felt long or uninteresting. Something about the main character, Joan, reminded me of Anne Shirley, which is always a good thing. She is certainly flawed but heartwarmingly genuine, so I couldn’t help but like her, and even root for her. A rather large portion of the latter half of the book is taken up with her intense but immature crush on David, the son of the family she works for. I rather enjoyed reading about her associa
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I loved this intelligent, spunky, 14 year old (who ends up telling people she's 18), Joan Skraggs from a small farm in Pennsylvania. Her mother has just died and she is left to do all the work her mother had to do with her verbally abusive father and two brothers. Life is miserable and she would like to at least get some egg money for all her hard work, and having to drop out of school. Her father will hear non of that so she comes up with a plan to leave the farm and go to Baltimore. The train
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I really enjoyed Joan's story! This is a young adult book, but honestly it was downright delightful. (That sounds like something my grandma would have said. 😅) But really, I didn't want it to end.
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Feb 20, 2018
Kristi Bell
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young-adult,
2018-books
3 1/2 stars. Set on a farm in 1911, Joan is a 14 year old girl who runs away from a terrible home life. Her mama has died and she lived with her 3 brothers and condescending father. Her father believed that women should stay in the home and cook and clean for the men. Her mother wanted more for Joan...to be educated and become a teacher. Joan runs away from home and a jewish family takes her in. Joan is Catholic and the differences between the religions are weighing on her. Written in diary form
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Man I loved this book. It's written journal-style by a hard working 14 year old Catholic girl. She's smart and brave and young and naive and good. Great read.
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Jan 06, 2016
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Aug 25, 2019
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Jan 08, 2020
Andrea
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