A Northern Light

This book was actually pretty refreshing after reading Looking for Alaska. There are a lot of issues in this book like abuse, sexism, racism, love vs independence. Using the time period was a great technique to bring these issues to light, but they are still very relevant today. Many young women are still asking the question, do I get married and have children or continue my education and further my career? I thought this would be a book about murder or even a book about a moment in history, but really it was a coming of age story about a girl who needed to figure out for herself what she truly wanted out of life. I especially enjoyed this book because it was our first book so far with a female protagonist and I felt like any girl can relate to what she's going through, even though our lives are so vastly different. My only complaint was that I had the expectation of it being a book surrounding a real life murder and so it often felt like it was moving very slowly and going on too long about things that didn't seem to matter. Of course, it all mattered in the end. Her life on the farm, her friends and family, her teachers and coworkers, all ended up playing their part and having significance. I think this book is great for teens because it gives us a story that is far enough from our own lives to enjoy the story, but close enough to take something from it.