Five Things They Never Told Me by Rebecca Westcott

Erin, the main character in the story, chooses to live with her family dog, Picasso, who lives with her father. She can’t stand not having a say in anything anymore. With a moment of impulse, she ends up getting grounded and is forced to help out at a retirement home. When she arrives, she is uninterested in Martha, a wheelchair bound senior who is unable to talk. Soon, she realises that it would be the beginning of a sincere friendship. She then learns that she should not dwell in the past, but instead focus on making the present better.

The story is written from the perspective of Erin, a thirteen-year-old girl. However, there are some chapters in the book that are written from the perspective of Martha and I think it adds a very interesting angle to the story as I enjoy reading about how Martha really felt in the story. This is because in the story, she sometimes hides her feelings from Erin. I also feel that the book is very descriptive and thus I was thoroughly engrossed when I was reading it. One of the reasons why I enjoy the book is because Erin’s actions sometimes resemble those of mine. For example, when she got into a squabble with her Dad because she was so forgetful that she left the sausages grilling in the oven until they were burnt. I can definitely relate to that as I am sometimes a scatterbrain!  Besides that, I really enjoy the part of the story where Martha and Erin spent their last afternoon together, drawing in the garden. Erin drew a picture of Martha. Erin is extremely talented at drawing and when she shows Martha the picture that she drew of her, Martha was extremely touched and she cried. This meant a lot to me as I enjoy spending time together with my grandmother.

I think that this book is extremely meaningful as it also reminds me that although our Grandparents or the old people in our lives may not be active and may not seem to be fun to be around, they have experience that we do not have and they have made many contributions to our society before. Thus, we must always remember to respect them and try to spend time with them which I am sure they will be grateful for.

In conclusion, I feel that this book is great and I highly recommend you to read it!

Hannah Quah

Secondary 1 Grace