A Book Review

by Madison

Summer Hawk, by Deborah Savage, is an excellent story about trust, betrayal, love and learning to trust again. In the beginning, Taylor has no friends and is mainly living with her father in the country because her mom works a lot in the city. Then Taylor rescues a baby hawk and makes friends with a sort of school outcast, Rail Bogart. Together they work at a raptor rehabilitation center for Rhiannon Jeffries. With Rail, Taylor always has an anchor to earth and their friendship grows while things threaten to fall apart in Taylor's family.

This story addresses many issues kids may face after about fifth grade, including bullies, peer pressure and parental conflict. At parts this book is sad, and at other parts, it is happy. This book is about finding out who you really are and how to find your wings and spread them. Having to make decisions about who you will be involves learning how to spread your wings and how to fly at your own height without a tether anchoring you down -- not an easy process.