Customer Reviews

When Catherine the Great and I Were Eight!

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We first came across this book when my 3 year old daughter randomly picked it off the library shelf. When I previewed it I was skeptical about it holding her interest as I thought it was a little long and wordy for her age. I was wrong. She loved the language and as we read it over and over I began to fall in love with it too. It's a simple story about a group of neighbors (the narrator is a young girl named Sara and Catherine the Great is her Russian Grandma) who decide to go to the beach on a hot day. The majority of the book is about their difficulty getting there. There isn't really anything remarkable about their adventure, in fact they are rather ordinary but that's the appeal. It is just everyday people going about things in an everyday way. There are many subtle messages in the book about family, immigrant life, enjoying life etc.and the author also uses very interesting language. I love the strong character of Grandma!

We have since read several other titles by Cari Best (Sally Jean Bicycle Queen, P is for Pie, and Three Cheers for Catherine the Great) and my daughter has enjoyed them all. Cari Best has a way with words and with subtly questioning stereotypes. In Sally Jean a little girl learns to fix and then build her own bike and in P is for Pie, a young boy loves to bake. This book and Best's others are definitely worth taking a look at.