By: Wendy Mass
Rate: Very good
Every sprout needs healthy soil, welcoming sunshine, and trickling water to grow and thrive. But when you neglect to care for it properly, it will wither and die. In 13 Gifts, Tara Brennan is this sprout at the beginning of the book. Getting moved around by her mom, she fails to find any real, good, friends, and feels quite out of place. Alas, to make herself a little more popular, Tara tries to steal the principal’s prized goat but instead is caught. Accidentally, she sprays pepper into the principal’s eyes. This unintended mishap causes Tara to be suspended from school and sent to Willow Falls for the summer. Yet during this surprising summer, everything from her self-esteem to her relationship with her parents change greatly for Tara.
During the beginning, Tara is unsure of herself. Her self-esteem is quite low, and she wants to please the most popular girl in school, Shelby Malone. As a result, she heads into the principal’s office to steal the stuffed goat and gets suspended. Shelby and her DFs (devoted followers) dared her to do so, for she wished to sit with them. You can tell from this that she does not believe in herself and instead wants to mix in with the popular group, so that she can be favored too. Her mother isn’t much of a help, for she has rather negative effects on Tara; she keeps on moving from house to house and is overprotective.
After being sent to Willow Falls, Tara is confused and nervous. The world has changed suddenly, and she finds herself with unfamiliar relatives, a math-crazy cousin, and a boy who sings in an empty swimming pool. But she meets many friends in this strange town, such as Rory Swenson, and David Goldberg (later, her boyfriend). And most importantly, she also encounters a crazy old woman with a duck-shaped birthmark that wiggles; yes, it’s Angelina D’Angelo, the main antagonist of the story–or should I say protagonist? She greatly affects Tara’s life in the story, making her find thirteen items and suggesting acting the old play Fiddler on the Roof. Although she blocks Tara in many different ways, she is one of the key characters in helping Tara find confidence in herself.
Tara, at the end of the book, seems like someone new. She is definitely not the girl I read about at the beginning, the afraid, unsure, hesitant, lonely, unconfident girl. She has sprouted, she has grown. Tara finds her true self at Willow Falls with her new friends, and learns that “the sidelines may be safer, but life is played on the field”. The essay that she writes at the end for her submission to her teacher is absolutely amazing. This paper plays an important role in the story; it summarizes the lessons Tara has learned during the summer, some funny and some serious. A few important ones are: “I have learned that almost anyone will help you if you ask for it. I’ve learned that mothers can love their babies even before they’re born and then will do all sorts of crazy things to try to keep them safe. I’ve learned that if you wait long enough, you might get a second chance at something you gave up on. I’ve learned that everyone can do their part to repair the world.” And of course, there is the most important one: Life is played on the field. This bizarre summer has turned Tara’s life upside down, and then turned it right-side up again, better than ever. Starting from stealing a goat, to hawks pooping on her head, to meeting a peculiar old woman who demands thirteen gifts from her, to actually finding the items, to acting an ancient play with the hottest teen movie star ever, to hearing her mother’s deepest secret, Tara’s had a wild and spectacular ride this summer at Willow Falls, and her self-confidence has gone up in astonishing ways.
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