My rating: blue3

(3.25 stars)

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hello, wonderful readers! I recently read The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli, brought to me via NetGalley. It’s about a girl named Cammie who lives in a prison as the warden’s daughter. During the summer of 1959, before Cammie turns thirteen, she deals with problems of both past and present, working to ultimately move on.

It’s hard to know if I liked this book or not. I mean, I did want to read it till the end, but during that point, there was mostly skimming involved. I got really bored with the protagonist’s story after hearing about all the mayhem she caused. I felt as if someone should have been there for her a long time ago, and that she got away with way too much just because she’s the warden’s daughter as well the tragedy that surrounded her. I felt that the treatment she was receiving was not the proper response in raising a child. It’s not that her father didn’t do the best that he could, but there were hints that there relationship wasn’t the most communicative.

That’s actually a big problem area for Cammie. All throughout the novel, I wished for  more interaction between Cammie and others. That girl was more stuck inside her head that outside with the rest of the world. For good reason, too, she was the protagonist and it was her personality. It was probably what the author was going for anyways, seeing as Cammie does refer to herself as an isolated person. I just didn’t like it so much because all you saw was her being mean to people. I think it was meant to point out how damaged Cammie’s relationships with others was and if she wanted to mend those relationships, something had to change. And while I did like her maturity at the end, I didn’t like how it developed: out of nowhere. I really don’t like when that kind of development is rushed because it’s less satisfying for me to read about. I thought that Cammie’s development within the novel was really flat until the end, where it suddenly spiked and she was shown to be a level-headed and mature person. Overall, this book had its ups and downs, making it more of a 3 star rating than a 4 star one.

That’s all I have to say about The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them in the Comments Section below. Have a nice day, everybody!

-Sumaya