Customer Reviews

Newsgirl

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Her mother may not have liked it, but twelve-year-old Amelia Forrester had an extraordinary streak of independence and a sense of adventure. These traits certainly came in handy when the two of them, accompanied by their dear friend Estelle Duprey, arrived in San Francisco at the height of the gold rush to make new lives for themselves. Upon disembarking from the ship, they felt dazed, hungry, and dead-tired, and to make matters worse, they were homeless and had left all their friends and family behind in Massachusetts. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Amelia immediately figured out that she could make a few quick dollars by selling the Boston newspapers they had used for packing, so off she went in search of a few customers and a cart for their luggage.

It did not take long for Amelia to learn that most of San Francisco's residents were men. Not only did she take chances with her physical safety when roaming the busy streets by herself, but she was also spurned in her efforts to earn money because of her gender. Cutting her hair short and wearing boys' clothes, however, opened up a whole new set of opportunities, which included not only walking about more freely and selling newspapers, but also assisting in the launch of an air balloon. Of course she had no way of knowing that the launch would lead to adventure and danger in California's gold mines, and ultimately, to a real job.

In this engrossing work of historical fiction, Liza Ketchum skillfully weaves together an account of life in Sam Francisco's gold-rush days with a description of women's quest for equal rights during the early years of the women's movement. Discrimination not only against women, but also against the Chinese living in San Francisco, represents just one of many examples of how these two overlapping themes motivate the storyline and contribute to the character development. Newsgirl gets high marks for its vivacious female protagonist, exciting plot, and rich substantive content.

Throughout history girls have pretended to be boys to achieve what they want. That's just what Amelia does in order to help her family in this fast-paced story set in San Francisco in 1851. I was rooting for the spunky Amelia from the very first pages of this lively adventure story. This is historical fiction at its best because Ketchum manages to make the time period and the events accessible and interesting to today's readers. The novel is filled with amazing details of the time period--it's clear this book was very well-researched. I happen to really love stories set during the "gold-rush" but even if the topic isn't something you seek out to read about I'm sure you won't be disappointed by this novel!

Liza Ketchum's NEWSGIRL tells of Amelia's family, newly arrived in San Francisco in 1851 hoping for a new life but nearly penniless. Amelia discovers newsboys are making an income - because of the ban on girls she cuts her hair and dresses herself as a boy - and experiences new freedom in this fine story of adventure, news, and women's rights at the turn of the century.