The Ashwater Experiment

This story is about a girl who would never have liked to have to live in one home for more than a week like her parents did. She was always on the move and she enjoyed her life very much but one day she finds out that she'll be house-sitting for someone for nine months! What will she do if she has to stay. It's an experience and you never know what will happen next!

Did you ever have the feeling that you were only an experiment, and that someone was always watching you? This is what goes through the mind of Hillary Siegal when her family decides to settle in Ashwater, California for the school year. She dreams up the idea of "The Watchers," people who look at her and her different choices and reactions to things, and she comes to believe that she is the only real person. Can it be true that she’s the only real person, as an experiment for The Watchers? When Hillary’s parents tell her that they will be staying in Ashwater for the entire school year, Hillary is shocked. Her family will be house-sitting for another family that is on a long vacation. Hillary is used to moving around, and not getting used to her new school and tries not to make friends. Now, she’s forced to stay put. She decides that she is an experiment of The Watchers, and Ashwater is a new part of the experiment. Hillary forms a journal in which she writes letters to The Watchers and keeps a list of "Like" and "Don’t Like" things. As Hillary goes to school, she meets people in the weirdest ways, and they become some of her best friends. One of these important people is Serena Montgomery. At first, Hillary is just Serena’s tutor, and Serena seems like only the "popular girl" to her. Yet, later on, Serena invites Hillary to join her and her friends at the mall and they become great friends. One day during tutoring, Hillary asks Serena if she ever feels like she’s the only real person. Serena replies that she sometimes feels as though she is the only unreal person. This means a lot to Hillary, and she assumes she was wrong about Serena only being the "popular girl". After that, she adds Serena to her "Like" list in her journal. Hillary’s family receives a phone call from the people they are house-sitting for, and they need to leave. Hillary hears the news, and she gets really upset. She doesn’t want to leave her new friends and her new school, but she has to go with her parents. They pack up their car and leave Ashwater, but wait! Is it really true that Hillary is the only real person, as an experiment for The Watchers? Well, I couldn’t tell you, since then nobody would actually want to buy the book! I think that this book is one that if you passed it in a book store, you’d shrug your shoulders and pass right by it. Although, if you picked it off a book shelf and read the summary on the back cover, you’d want to flip right to the first chapter and start reading. I read The Ashwater Experiment with my friend, and we decided upon reading three chapters a night, but I always found myself reading ahead and going past the three-chapters-a-night plan. It’s funny, it’s serious, it’s a great book. After reading it, it made my Favorite Books list, and I recommend it highly.

The Ashwater Experiment Did you ever think you were the only real person in the whole world? That everything around you was just there to test your reactions? Well, in this book, The Ashwater Experiment by Amy Goldman Koss, Hillary Siegal thinks this theory is true. Can she be right, that she is the only real person living, or is she just a normal girl? Hillary is used to moving from town to town and never settling down. Her grandma describes her life and her parents' life as a "circus train." This is because they can't stay put and her parents, for some reason, think they are Peter Pan. When her parents decide to housesit a house in Ashwater, California, Hillary realizes she isn't like other people. In this book, Hillary jumps to many conclusions. At first, she thinks she is the only real person on Earth. She thought that nothing around her was real, just there to test her reactions. "I sat very still, letting the idea slip into me: My life was a giant experiment and I was the guinea pig. I didn't know who or what was performing the experiment, but I could feel all their invisible eyes on me. I decided to call them the Watchers." Hillary also wrote her thoughts and comments in a journal to the Watchers. "I stopped at the apartment door and imagined that on the other side of the door was absolutely nothing. Space, black and swirling. It would take my opening of the door to make something appear behind it. I opened it, and an entire scene came to life, complete with furniture, characters, even sound effects," Hillary thought. These are some of the things that went on in Hillary's mind. I think this was a great book. It really interested me while I read it. I think people with big imaginations would be able to read this book. As you can see, Hillary had a lot of thoughts about the experiment done by the Watchers. Find out what else happens to Hillary, in this book, The Ashwater Experiment.

This book is good, however I agree that it does tend to sound like the many other books with pre-teen girl heroines. I enjoyed this book because of the strange way it is told, exactly through the eyes of a 12 year old girl. Its interesting to see how the author plays stereotypes out, such as the popular girl, and the class clown. The character is very likeable, and its strange the way she reacts to everyone, because they all want to be her friend. Though some parts of this book could be better explained, it was all in all a good read.

I enjoyed this book very much, but found it very similar to others with well-written heroines (i.e, Naylor's Alice; Lois Lowry's Anastasia; Betsy Byars; Claudia Mills' characters). Hillary was a engaging girl, very thoughtful and mature, someone YOU would want as a best friend.