Lanie
Written by Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by Robert Papp & Rebecca DeKuiper
Reviewed by Avery H. (age 10)
A ten year old girl named Lanie lives in Massachusetts with her sister, mom, dad, and her pet bunny, Lola. She is sad because her friend, Dakota moved to the other side of the world. Her family doesn’t like science at all, but she loves it. Once when she was giving Lola a walk, people were mad because one of the neighbor's cat was afraid of Lola . Lanie decided to use a leash next time.
Lanie's aunt, Hannah, loves science too. She came with her trailer to go on a family camping trip. Before they went, Hannah and Lanie made a garden with various amounts and different kinds of fruit. Aunt Hannah had to leave for six weeks because a bird researcher broke his leg. She had to go and help out. Lanie was really sad when she found out her aunt was gone.
The next day at school, they had a butterfly project. They watched the cocoons open to butterflies. They also had to write facts about it. Lanie's butterfly grew, and it was beautiful. The sad thing was Lanie had to let her go just like Dakota. Dakota said she'd be back in six weeks, and Lanie was really excited.
I would change one part of the story. I wished Aunt Hannah stayed for the camping trip. My favorite part is when Dakota e-mails Lanie because it says that she'll be home in only six weeks; and Lanie was happy. My favorite character is Lanie because she loves science and uses it to entertain herself. My least favorite character is the sister, Emily, because when Lanie says science facts, she doesn't listen.
This story relates to my life because some of my family has "indoor genes" and some have "outdoor genes". The pictures in the story show how dedicated Lanie is to science. People should read the story because it teaches you to still like the outdoors, even though your family loves the indoors.