Newsgirl

Amazing book have read it before and excited to read it again

Twelve-year-old Amelia and her family arrive in the tent-city of San Francisco with little money. Amelia sees that selling newspapers is lucrative, but Julius isn't about to let a girl into his newspaper gang. When Amelia inquires about setting type in a newspaper office, the editor is adamant about girls knowing their place. But Amelia is resourceful. She cuts her hair, dons boys' clothes, and gets Julius to let her into the gang as Emile. Soon she wins grudging respect. Then she and a pal sneak into a site where a hot air balloon is being launched. When asked to help with the sandbags, they find themselves suddenly aloft and being carried away on the wind. They crash land in the gold fields, where a French mining couple nurse them back to health. Amelia shares her story of the balloon flight and is given a byline in the Sonora Herald. New and more frightening adventures await Amelia, making her decide that she is ready to be herself and in the future hold her own as a newsgirl. The action is fast-moving, the writing is crisp and vivid, and Amelia is a likeable and believable protagonist. Reviewed by Elizabeth Varadan

Liza Ketchum's NEWSGIRL tells of Amelia's family, newly arrived in San Francisco in 1851 hoping for a new life but nearly penniless. Amelia discovers newsboys are making an income - because of the ban on girls she cuts her hair and dresses herself as a boy - and experiences new freedom in this fine story of adventure, news, and women's rights at the turn of the century.

Her mother may not have liked it, but twelve-year-old Amelia Forrester had an extraordinary streak of independence and a sense of adventure. These traits certainly came in handy when the two of them, accompanied by their dear friend Estelle Duprey, arrived in San Francisco at the height of the gold rush to make new lives for themselves. Upon disembarking from the ship, they felt dazed, hungry, and dead-tired, and to make matters worse, they were homeless and had left all their friends and family behind in Massachusetts. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Amelia immediately figured out that she could make a few quick dollars by selling the Boston newspapers they had used for packing, so off she went in search of a few customers and a cart for their luggage. It did not take long for Amelia to learn that most of San Francisco's residents were men. Not only did she take chances with her physical safety when roaming the busy streets by herself, but she was also spurned in her efforts to earn money because of her gender. Cutting her hair short and wearing boys' clothes, however, opened up a whole new set of opportunities, which included not only walking about more freely and selling newspapers, but also assisting in the launch of an air balloon. Of course she had no way of knowing that the launch would lead to adventure and danger in California's gold mines, and ultimately, to a real job. In this engrossing work of historical fiction, Liza Ketchum skillfully weaves together an account of life in Sam Francisco's gold-rush days with a description of women's quest for equal rights during the early years of the women's movement. Discrimination not only against women, but also against the Chinese living in San Francisco, represents just one of many examples of how these two overlapping themes motivate the storyline and contribute to the character development. Newsgirl gets high marks for its vivacious female protagonist, exciting plot, and rich substantive content.