Hill Hawk Hattie

I absolutely loved this book. It tugs at the heart strings, and brings back so many memories of yesterday.

If you like historical fiction, you will love this book. Hattie is such a loveable character; it's very easy to get drawn into her world. The pace of the book is fast, keeping the story moving with plenty of adventure, and at the same time you'll learn about the history of the area and the times. I highly recommend this book for both girls and boys.

Why is Hattie's father treating her as a boy? There are many reasons, which we do not discover until late in the story. But the first reason he does so, is to install her as a 'hand' on a wild log raft trip down the Delaware River. Adventure stories cannot get any better than this! HAttie is a mountain girl, and townies never let her forget that fact. But inside, she is a tender, tough eleven year old, trying to survive after her mother's death. A boy and his father and HAttie and her father steer the log raft. Hattie and the boy hit it off, but she is always terrified that he will discover she is a girl. What does happen is a surprise. Her father starts out on the trip rough and uncommunicative, but eventually a thaw occurs in their relationship. To reveal more would ruin the reader's enjoyment. This story is set in the late 1850's. Stories of the southern tier of New York STate and Pennsylvania are rare, for the mid-grade reader. This book reveals a character and slice of little known history.