New Customer Review - In Care of Cassie Tucker

In Care of Cassie Tucker
by Ivy Ruckman [j Ruckman]

I found myself wishing that Ivy Ruckman had simply plopped her characters into the middle of the action rather than hitting us with so much foreshadowing. The result is a lackluster start. In the first chapter of In Care of Cassie Tucker, Cassie's younger brother is screaming about their rooster. Cassie rescues her brother and then teaches him his numbers. Next, Cassie helps sets the table. Then her mother sends her outside to do chores. Just like in movies with the same flaws, all these precursory events to the real story are intended to develop the character, but just make me antsy for the action to start. I don't want to hear "What I didn't know that long-ago Thursday -- that everything was about to change." I want the out-of-town cousin to arrive already! Once he does, I was able to settle back and enjoy the story -- which fortunately turned out better than those aforementioned perfunctory movies. My favorite chapter is when Cousin Evan teaches Cassie to swim. I also like their many discussions about religion. Ruckman's strength in writing about storms also shows itself in the chapters about a blinding blizzard. Despite its initial slow pace, In Care of Cassie Tucker kept me glued to my chair. -- review submitted by Allison H.-F. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library [ Check out Allison's guest issue of Customer Snapshot ]

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