Norma Jean Lutz
Barbour Publishing (2005)
ISBN 9781593106607
Reviewed by Sara McGinn (age 9) for Reader Views (10/08)
“Maggie’s Dare” by Norma Jean Lutz is about a 12-year-old girl named Maggie who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. (The book’s cover says in takes place in 1744 but in the story it says it takes place in 1740- 1741.) Maggie goes on many adventures during this story. She traveled to Salem with a friend where they attended several parties. She was also invited to take dance lessons and attended a Christmas ball. She even attended a revivalist meeting. Her biggest adventure of all was her decision to help a sick slave girl against her friend’s wishes. Maggie is against slavery and thinks that no matter what a person looks like, they still have feelings.
My favorite things about this book are when Maggie helps her best friend’s slave at the end of the book. I like that part because there was lots of action and it was a very interesting part of the book. I also learned a lot about the Great Awakening because I didn’t even know that it existed! I also enjoyed the part where Maggie helped a homeless mother and child by giving them food and a shawl.
The author, Normal Jean Lutz, did a good job writing “Maggie’s Dare,” but it was very confusing for me to understand because there were many words I was not familiar with. I spent lots of time looking up the meaning of words in the dictionary. I would recommend that this book be for an older age range than 8-12, maybe 10-12 is better.
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