Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
September 5, 2017/in Fiction 8-10 Junior/Middle /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 226 September 2017
Reviewer: Jane Churchill
ISBN: 978-1786695895
Price: £10.99
Publisher: Zephyr
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 8-10 Junior/Middle
Length: 256pp
Buy the Book

The Snow Angel

Author: Lauren St JohnIllustrator: Catherine Hyde

Makena longs to be a mountain guide like her father and her dream is to climb Mount Kenya with him. Her most treasured possession is a jar of melted snow from a glacier her beloved Baba had brought back for her.  On her first trek with him she is spooked by the cackle of hyenas at night but her feeling of unease is mitigated when she spots a beautiful bat-eared fox.

Back home her parents leave her in the care of friends while they go to look after a sick Aunt in Sierra Leone.  Makena has never been apart from her warm and loving family before but after her parents do not return from their week away she becomes increasingly anxious and that is when she discovers Ebola has struck and her parents will not be returning.  Makena is then farmed out to a half-uncle and his wife Pricilla who immediately uses her as an unpaid babysitter for her children and takes the money meant for Makena’s education to buy herself fashionable clothes.  When Makena is thrown out of the house by her step-uncle as his wife is terrified of catching Ebola she decides to go back to Nairobi.  Lonely and afraid she does not know who to turn to once there but is found by an albino girl, Snow who lives in the slums. They soon become firm friends and are enjoying a rare moment of happiness on Makena’s birthday when a bulldozer raises their part of the slum to the ground and they become separated.    In the nick of time Makena is found by an aid worker and taken back to Hope 4 Africa Home for Girls.  There Makena is slowly nursed back to health by Helen and her team but when she finally wakes up Helen has gone back to her home Scotland for a family bereavement.   Even when Helen brings her to Scotland for Christmas Makena feels let down and cannot believe that anyone will want to care for her.  Everything nearly ends in disaster until the magical fox comes back to save her.

This is a life-affirming and moving story which packs a similar emotional punch to a Michael Morpurgo novel.  It’s a tad uneven in places and tough issues are not glossed over but it is such a compelling and compassionate tale that it carries you along willingly.  Courage and love shine through the heartbreak.  Lauren St John’s skill in setting the scene is evident in her depiction of both the warmth and colour of Africa and the colder but equally dramatic landscape of the Scottish Highlands – so evocative and visual you feel you are standing there with Makena.  This is a gem of a book.   The illustrations will be gorgeous too judging by the few seen in the proof.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2017-09-05 16:31:232021-06-16 13:28:19The Snow Angel

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue BfK 255 July 2022
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Sarah Hagger-Holt wins the 2022 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction 2022

July 21, 2022

Maisie Chan and her editor Georgia Murray of Piccadilly Press win the 2022 Branford Boase Award

July 14, 2022

Valerie Bloom wins the CLiPPA 2022

July 8, 2022

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2022 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Abel’s Island The Island at the End of Everything
Scroll to top