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Hattie Ever After

Hattie Ever After - Kirby Larson HATTIE EVER AFTER is another amazing work of historical fiction by Kirby Larson. It is the direct sequel to her 2007 Newbery Honor winning HATTIE BIG SKY and is told in the same authentic voice of now seventeen-year-old Hattie Inez Brooks.When we last saw Hattie she had just failed at proving up her Uncle Chester's Montana land claim. When we meet her again, she is working as a housemaid in a boarding house in Great Falls, Montana, and has just finished paying up her uncle's debt. Hungry for new adventure and eager to find a place for herself, she decides to accept a job with a travelling Vaudeville troupe which will get her to San Francisco where she can attempt to solve the mystery of her Uncle Chester's life. The wonderful descriptions of San Francisco seen through Hattie's eyes are a high point of this story for me. Kirby Larson describes herself as a compulsive researcher which certainly informs Hattie's voice and makes the time come alive.Hattie has some tough choices to make in this story. She has to choose between a life with Charlie as a wife and a life as an intrepid female reporter. While she hates disappointing Charlie since she really does love him very much, she feels that she has to find out who she is for herself before she can commit to someone else. Hattie has some amazing adventures in this story including flying with pilot Eddie Hubbard in an early seaplane where Hubbard performs a loop the loop, spiral roll, and even a falling leaf making Hattie fear for her life. Hattie also finds herself stuck in an elevator with President Woodrow Wilson and spends an hour talking to him about his travels to convince the people of the United States to support the new League of Nations. Hattie also suffers some betrayals—big and small— during her time in San Francisco from a fellow reporter befriending her and then stealing her stories to a con woman gaining her confidence and bilking her out of her hard-earned money. But Hattie learns and grows and finds out what she really wants out of life.Hattie is a wonderful character. She is smart, ambitious, and wonderfully resilient. She would make a wonderful role model for any of today's young women and is a wonderful representative of the many women who made up America's past and paved the way for the future. I recommend this book to all young readers (and adult readers too!)