This story starts dangling from a hot air balloon, starting at the end of the story – the rest of the book takes us through how Pearl ended up there.
I should admit, I wasn’t sold. Pearl’s language grated on me a bit, and while it made a pleasant change that all the female characters seemed solid and three-dimensional, most of the male characters seemed less robust: for me it comes through when I do the voices. I couldn’t find different voices for the male characters, while the female characters each had voices of their own.
But, it doesn’t really matter what I think – my kids loved this book. They enjoyed the ostriches, which I thought were a bit over the top, and they loved the dive into history. And the book grew on me. I appreciated that the author acknowledged that people in the past had to make moral decisions on matters like discrimination; that women in all ages have led full, if undocumented, lives; and I enjoyed the overall message of ‘yes, and’ friendships, rather than ‘never, ever’ enmity, which seems to dominate our politics at the moment.
In some ways, the book embodies what is meant by being politically correct – it is kind, courageous and wears its awfully big heart on its sleeve. We’re unlikely to rehabilitate the phrase, but Pearl helps to remind us of the importance of these concepts.
