WORTH, A. LaFaye

Last week I read Worth by A. LaFaye. This book is a Scott O'Dell Award-winning historical fiction set in the late 1800s or early 1900s in Nebraska. The family is having a hard time making it anyway, but the narrator and only son of a farmer has an accident and has his leg mangled in a wagon wheel. During his recovery, his dad is forced to find help by taking in an orphan boy, John Worth, who is similiar in age. (Read from page 44-top of 46) This book is about self-discovery and two boys attempt at surviving their own conditions that seem so out of their control to become men. Both have their own ideas about what success is, but both are willing and determined to be more and find their own true "worth." This book is very moving. It is not one to read if you want to laugh, but makes some poignant observations and makes you think about who you are and what you value. It is a short and easy read, but deep in scope and message.