Finalist for the CLA Book of the Year for Children Award Kit Pearson’s endearing heroine from the award-winning The Whole Truth , Polly, is now thirteen and following in her sister’s footsteps to a boarding school in Victoria. The adjustment is difficult―all those rules!―and Polly often escapes into her dreams of becoming an artist. At least her family is intact again, and there are no more dark and difficult secrets to be kept hidden . . . that is, until her teenage sister, Maud, makes a dramatic confession. Will Polly be able to keep this new secret? Will it tear her family apart again?
Kit Pearson spent her childhood between Edmonton Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia. As a high-school student, she returned to Vancouver to be educated at Crofton House School. She obtained a degree in English Literature at the University of Alberta, and spent several years following the degree doing odd jobs or travelling in Europe. In 1975, she began her Library degree at the University of British Columbia and took her first jobs in that field in Ontario. She later obtained an M.A. at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature in Boston. Returning to Vancouver, she completed her first novel "The Daring Game" which was published by Penguin Books. Pearson now lives in Victoria, British Columbia, a few blocks from Ross Bay Cemetery, one of the settings in Awake and Dreaming.
I suppose I think of this book as the Downton Abbey of the West Coast. It's filled with clearly defined, three-dimensional characters dealing with problems of society and perception, the type of problems that I think many of us would just scoff at in today's world. However, Pearson does a good job of emphasizing how real these problems are in the 1930s and shows a world in flux. I really came to love the character of Noni, especially as she goes through such a profound shift in the book. She is certainly admirable. Perhaps everything gets tied up a little too nicely at the end, but I actually found this to be very satisfying, and what this particular story required.
So I read the first book from this series as a little girl and loved it. I saw at the thrift store there was a sequel, and I knew I had to appease my childhood self. There's something nostalgic about reading a childhood book.
One thing I found funny is, I read the prequel before ever knowing much about Victoria (where the book takes place). Now today, I live in this city. So it definitely is a must read for any canadian girl, like anne from green gables.
It's a wholesome family store from the perspective of Polly, a young girl, learning to navigate life's changes and developments. It was a nice easy read, still enjoyable for a 21 year old.
This is the sequel of another truly wonderful book, Polly faces the difficulties of going of to boarding school and the stress of worrying about a Possible world war 2. Pearson is truly talented in her abilities to narrate as though she was a child and to create a satisPhying ending. I highly recommend this book to all ages and hoPe that you like it as much as I did i give it an 11 out of ten!
jesus christ these books are so good. when i was a kid reading them for the first time, i loved them simply because they were set where i grew up. reading them now, with a fully developed frontal lobe, i love them because they remind me of how difficult being a little girl is, and that it really is difficult, and not that i was being dramatic or over exaggerating. it really was just hard.
Kit Pearson has captivated me once again with the story of Polly and Maud. I find her coming-of-age stories to be an accurate representation of the feelings that come along with the onset of adulthood and it was fascinating to revisit the sisters a little later in their lives. In this particular story, Polly and her scattered family confronts the prejudice that is ingrained into the West Coast society of the 1930's. It was masterfully done and Nona's change of heart left me in tears. The optimism of Kit Pearson's characters leaves me aching at the reality of how ones stubbornness has the ability the break apart families. A little idealistic but nevertheless a welcome read.
I figured I'd grab the sequel having found "The Whole Truth". I didn't enjoy this work quite as much because I felt like the epilogue made everything TOO perfect. But it was still an engaging story, and a look at how society treated girls/women in the '30's (and to a degree even today).
If you liked "The Daring Game" you might like this since the majority of the work takes place in a boarding school (complete with a witch of a headmistress).
very good coming of age story, with a few more big, not often talked about issues. I really liked how realistically things were handled, esp (Polly's) complicated feelings. I liked the epilogue but do fell it detracted a bit from the story; A whole other book could've been made of it, and instead it was wrapped up neatly in one page. Nevertheless, Kit Pearson remains one of my favorite children's authors:)
I was a little disappointed with this. I loved The Whole Truth, and was so excited to read the sequel but for me the story fell sort of flat. Worth reading if you want to see what happens to Polly and Maud but not nearly as good as the first. This is the only one of Pearson's book I didn't love.
Just like the first book in the set it was a wonderful read. Fabulous characters and story of a family.The prairies and BC in the 30's was so interesting.I wish there were more books in the set.
Wow, Kit Pearson completely changed my view of Noni and Maud! This book is strangely surreal after watching The Drop Box, but is still very powerful and thought-provoking
Great follow-up to the first book "The Whole Truth". A bit predictable, but likely not to a young reader. Loved the time period issues that were dealt with.