Review: The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric

The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric.

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 2011
List Price: $17.99
ISBN-13: 9780385739993

Review: The city is sinking, the seagulls are murdering, and Teodora needs to hasten! In my opinion, The Undrowned Child written by Michelle Lovric is a very remarkable book. This thrilling book is about a thirteen year old girl named Teodora who isn't aware of the fact that she is already part of Venice history and more importantly doesn't even know that she was born in Venice. After begging her step-parents to take a trip to the strangely appealing city of Venice, she finally has the privilege of going to the slowly but surely sinking city. Being the bookworm she is, one of the first things Teodora does when she arrives in Venice is travel to the library. Unfortunately, she gets knocked down by a book [which as it turns out, is not a coincidence] gets awfully ill and enters a very peculiar world known as "between the linings" where only children, ghosts, and of course mermaids can she her. Luckily, she bears a book that gives her knowledge on how to overcome the challenges and tasks she will come across on her journey. She goes on a journey with a conceited; know it all, boy Renzo to attempt to revert Teodora to her ordinary life. But will she be able to overcome all the obstacles that await? Read The Undrowned Child to find out!

The Undrowned Child has a variety of great elements that I enjoyed. For instance, throughout the book, I felt like I was Teodora and was accompanying her in her journey. The book includes great tone and voice and I felt the energy as if I was traveling through the book. While reading the book, I was sucked into the excitement, feeling exactly what Renzo and Teodora felt. I also enjoyed the flow of the book. All of the events occurred in an order that made sense and was suitable to the reader. I agree with Jake Hope, Booksellers' Choice, when he said this book is "a stunning debut novel….. Part fairy tale, part historical fiction, this is writing that is alight and alive." Lastly, I favored the last chapter that includes facts about Venice. It includes sights you could still see in the ever so slightly sinking city of Venice and even more appealing facts of the ever so famous city. Therefore, The Undrowned Child is most definitely a book I'll never forget.

Review written by Kaleb (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of The Undrowned Child for this review.

Have you read The Undrowned Child? How would you rate it?