CLIMBING THE RAINBOW

Those who recall Dora Cookson from Through the Open Door (2000) will be pleased to follow her now that an operation has enabled her to speak. For the first time in her ten years, she attends school, but must sit with first-graders, because of her lack of schooling, although she can read. When a sympathetic teacher allows her to progress as she learns the material, within the year Dora is in fourth grade. Her gumption, imagination, and perseverance are admirable as she and her family work, and work hard, to own their homestead in 1911 New Mexico Territory. Death also comes into Dora’s life when her best friend dies from appendicitis but life abounds throughout with details about farming, butchering, cooking, and the day’s work. Readers will want to see Dora’s story continued. (Fiction. 8-12)