Melissa Wiley

I really enjoyed this book about making silent movies. I really liked Pearls character and felt she was very relatable. I liked the dynamic between her and her brothers, they would tease her mercilessly but when it came right down to it, they loved her and would protect her. I thought all of the characters were very realistic. Her parents reluctance to let her act but finally letting her do it rang very true for what parents would actually do.
I thought the whole bit about raising ostriches was really interesting and taking the feathers to "town" once a year. I had never really thought about people raising the birds for the feathers that women used to wear on their hats.
The only thing I didn't love was that the story started in the middle of the scene and then the book went back in time and I kept waiting for them to get back to that scene but it wasn't until near the end of the book.
Overall though, a nice clean book for kids. I would highly recommend that you read the authors note at the end. Really interesting and made the story seem even better when you know that's it's loosely based on real people.
If you enjoyed this book I would also recommend Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbet which is also about a young girl making silent movies.… (mer)