13 Gifts

13 Gifts By: Wendy Mass

Tara Brennan is being sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle for the summer after she tries to steal something from her principal's  office and then sprays him with pepper spray on accident.  She is frustrated and upset because her family is leaving her and she is learning that people in the town of Willow Falls are full of secrets. When her backpack is emptied by someone on the train, Tara is left without a phone or money and she needs it.  So she meets a strange old lady named Angelina who agrees to give her money if she finds the things she has on her list.  The only rule is that she cannot steal them  and she must find all the items before her 13th birthday.  This leads Tara and her new friends on a wild chase through the town as they only have 2 weeks to find them. Tara is happy to finally have friends and is so excited when they are able to get all the things on the  list, which requires them to do random things for people, pay them with money or deeds.  When Tara finally thinks that she has completed her task she finds she has a lot more to learn!!

I enjoyed this book.  It was written really well and I was not expecting the twists and turns that the story took. I thought it was fun because of the little quest the characters were on to find the items on the list and it showed how creative the characters were at collecting things from people even if the people did not want to give them up.  I liked the mystery of the town of Willow Falls and thought that it was a creative magical place.  I think that this would be great for any 4th grade or older reader, but probably to young for high school!

I purchased this from the Scholastic Book Order.
ISBN: 978-0-545-38494-0