Book: I Can Make This Promise
Author: Christine Day
Published: 2019
Book summary: “All her life, Edie has known that her mom was adopted by a white couple. So, no matter how curious she might be about her Native American heritage, Edie is sure her family doesn’t have any answers. Until the day when she and her friends discover a box hidden in the attic — a box full of letters signed ‘Love, Edith,’ and photos of a woman who looks just like her” from goodreads.com.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
What this book did well
Christine Day’s book “I Can Make This Promise” does an excellent job of using a character’s story to show the bigger picture of an issue: Child workers had once removed Native Americans from their families and placed them in homes with people of European descent. This book shows how this issue still impacts Native Americans today.
Most of the characters in this book felt fleshed out and real. The life events Edie goes through in this book are relatable and remind the reader of their middle school days, if they’re an older reader. These life events don’t overpower the main plot of Edie tri
What this book could improve upon
This book could have been fleshed out more, especially because it wasn’t long. Besides telling how Edie’s mother came to be born, the mother’s past wasn’t really talked about. The story of her life growing up in a non-Native American family would have been interesting to read about. What happened to the character Edith after she gave birth to Edie’s mother, besides how she died, would have been intriguing to know about, too. Perhaps Edie could have learned about Native American culture as well because in the beginning of the book, she had been asking questions about it.
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