When three high school students—Trina, Mark, and Lucas—decide to meet at the World Trade Center to finalize a community service project, they never dreamed they would face a disaster like no other. September 11, 2001 will forever change their lives.
Steps to Courage is writer and middle-school teacher Sandra K. Stiles first self-published book. Her concept is intriguing: Three teens with already complicated lives end up inside the Twin Towers as they fall under attack. How will 9/11 affect them? Will they cower in fear or take a step towards courage?
While I enjoyed the story of this book, a few things detracted from it. First, the timeline was a bit hard to follow. In places the story backs up to tell another character's point of view; near the end it speeds up to an unknown date after 9/11, and I had to figure out the age of the characters. Second, the change in point of view is difficult to grasp since most of the narrative seems the same and not very personal to each of the three main characters. Third, some of the drama of the day is lost as well since the narrator makes it clear from the beginning that 9/11 began "like any other day." True, we know what happened, but the characters obviously didn't. And I could also add that the writing didn't flow as well as I would've have liked, and a few grammatical errors threw me off. (But, I am rather picky about those things.)Still, I like the concept of this book. If it was polished up a bit and revamped in places, I have to admit, I would like it a lot better. But if you're looking for a 9/11 related read to spark some "what if?" wondering, and if you're willing to sacrifice a really well-written novel for an interesting story, you may want to check out Steps to Courage.
I have author Sandra K. Stiles to thank for my complimentary review copy of this book.
Sounds like an interesting read! Thanks for sharing your review.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, Thanks for your honest review of my book. I agree. Four months after publishing I can see a lot of areas I need to improve my writing. It is feedback like yours that will help me grow as a writer. Thank you.
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