LitPick Review
Baby Grape and Huskey is the story of an adventurous boy named Toby who finds himself in trouble with the law after he injures another boy while defending himself. Feeling the need to dissapear for awhile, he accepts a job delivering a still from Pittsburgh to Sligo, Pennsylvania. He is accompanied by a man, Lew, who Toby's late father had once described as mean spirited. Lew proves Toby's father correct, and soon Toby is forced to take responsibility beyond what he had imagined the delivery would require. On the journey, Toby discovers a plot to steal the still, befriends a servant girl named Gina, and continues on the hard road to delivery, meeting many interesting people and visiting unforgettable places along the way.
Opinion:
Baby Grape and Huskey was a great adventure story with realistic characters and an interesting plot. Toby was very believable as a person, and the detailed writing made it easy for me to picture him and the other characters throughout the story. It was also easy to imagine the landscape, weather and general atmosphere around the characters thanks to the wonderful descriptions. The story was somewhat episodic, with many sets of characters that appeared in the story with their own mini-plots. I enjoyed this, because it kept the story moving while still coming together to tell a larger story. While reading this story, I got a feel for what it would feel like to live in the mid-1800's, and what Pennsylvania looked like at that time. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes historical fiction and adventure stories, along with a smidge of romance. I would not recommend it to those who don't like historical fiction, because the book takes place in 1845.
