The Cave

The Cave masterfully combines a vivid depiction of early plains life with the coming of age story of an adolescent girl. Juxtaposing the excitement of exploring a secret cave with the angst of puberty, every moment of this story feels real. It also incorporates themes about balancing a family's welfare with protecting the environment. While the ending may provide too easy a solution, My daughter and I enjoyed every moment of this exciting story.

This book is about a girl named Christine who finds a mysterious cave of wonderous objects. Her brother is extremly ill in this magical story.This story takes place in the dust-bowl times.What Christine finds in this significant cave is unbelieveible and amazing. This Book is the best I've ever read in my entire life. I reccomend this book to every body in the world!!! I absolutely LOVE this book!!! It's the bomb!!! -Jillian

This is one of my daughter's and my favorite books. It tells the story of an adolescent girl coming of age during the dust bowl. While her family prepares to leave their homestead if rain doesn't come within the week, the girl and her brother discover and explore a cave which contains valuable geodes. They must decide whether to reveal the existence of the cave to their father, or to keep it secret in order to preserve it from the same destruction that the surrounding woods have met at the hands of desperate settlers. This book is an excellent read aloud book for advanced 6 year olds and up, or an excellent read for 9+ year olds. Be forewarned, though, that there are several pages that deal with the onset of menstration.