Bloomability
 Sharon Creech
 (Associate Student Reviewer - Karrie G.)
 2000 Macmillan Children's Books, London
  ISBN: 0060269936


Bloomability is a beautiful, touching book, of a young woman wishing to find her true self, instead of trying to act like everyone else to fit in, like she has always done before. Her name is Domenica Santolina Doone, which literally means: Sunday in the Southern Woods river.

All Domenica’s life she has moved from place to place, her father dragging her, her mother & siblings across America, staying optimistic & convinced he will find the right job & the right place to raise his children.

Every single time Domenica has fit in & found friends, as her older sister gets more & more pretty, her brother gets into more & more trouble. Finally her sister gets pregnant with a marine’s baby & her brother goes to jail.

When Domenica is thirteen her rich grandmother from her mother’s side, insists Domenica make something of herself in a Swiss school, where her uncle is the new principal.

Domenica leaves reluctantly with her aunt & uncle, hating herself for always fitting in which is the main reason her mother thinks & hopes she'll be all right. Domenica slowly starts to like Switzerland & the boarding school & discovers more about herself.

She makes several international friends & one fellow American in particular called Lila, who is dramatic, very stubborn & most of all, sure of herself. Domenica also meets & falls for Guthrie, an enthusiastic boy full of spirit.

Towards the end of the year something frightening happens. When the students go skiing, Lila & Guthrie are buried under an avalanche. Will the rescue team find them in time? How will Domenica survive without her two best friends?

Bloomability is a good read, written in such a way it's like Domenica is telling the story, from her point of view. What I liked most about it was that all the characters are special in their own way. Like real people they have better & worse sides & despite how different they are, they come to like each other.

Kudos to Sharon Creech, another fantastic book!

More from Sharon Creech: Walk Two Moons
(05/06/01)

Karrie G.
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Student Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
Karrie G. lives in The Netherlands. She is 15 years old, attends a Dutch Language School & is originally from Wisconsin, USA

Her favorite colors are: light blue, sea green, lavender & black!
Favorite sports are: swimming & soccer.
Favorite school subjects are: languages & creative writing class.
Favorite things to do are: playing the piano, reading, writing short stories & poetry, drawing & going to the movie theater.
The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Most people call the Netherlands Holland & it is about the size of Connecticut, but with a lot more people, sixteen million. You may think of tulips, chocolate, windmills & wooden shoes when you think of Holland. Although there are still lots of tulips & chocolate, & there are still some windmills, you wouldn't see many people wearing clogs today.