Rebecca Lisle Reviews

Added July 24, 2004

Copper

Author: Rebecca Lisle
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: February 2004
Genre: Middle Reader Fantasy
Format: Hardback
Price: $16.99
ISBN: 0399242112
Reviewer: Sharyn McGinty

Copper wasn't an ordinary girl. First, there was her name. How many girls were named Copper? Unlike her few friends, she lived with her aunt Ruby, had a talking stuffed toy dog, and every year on her birthday she received a golden charm for her bracelet. She knew she was different, felt it deep within her; she just didn't know why.

On her tenth birthday, her aunt sends her to the train station, to get her away from them. Copper has no idea who they are and while she is frightened, she can't help feeling a bit of anticipation. Just the name of her destination, Marble Mountain, evokes feelings of rightness, as if she really were returning home. Yet none of the odd things in her life prepared her for what greeted her at Marble Mountain.

Speaking staircases, spoons adjusting to your hands, birds as a mail system, a tame wolf, and an orphan boy. Could her life get any more weird? Not to mention the secrets. All her life, Copper knew her Aunt Ruby was hiding something, she just didn't know what. And now everyone at her new home was keeping things from her. She didn't know how, but she was going to unravel all the secrets.

Yet would learning the truth behind the secrecy bring her what she truly wanted? A family?

Copper is one of the most original fantasy middle reader tales I've read in a long time. Ms. Lisle's style instantly pulls you into Copper's life. You want her to be safe, want her to learn the truth about her life, want her to find her parents, and most of all, want her to be happy. Copper's world is most intriguing in the way magic is used and the way different characteristics and abilities are passed down through the families. While Copper is geared for younger readers, it is a perfect length for parents to read aloud. Highly recommended.

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