Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird
The story is about a girl called Anna, who has a baby brother who is handicapped with the disease called Hydrocephalus. She is worried about any of her friends skitting at him, so she tries to hide him from the outside world. She decides to face up to his disabilities, and worry about her own life. He soon dies at the age of two, from influenza, and Anna's family finds it hard to cope with his death. She meets a girl called Jacquelline (or Jackie), who also has a disability, and babysits her until the end of the book. At the end, she goes to visit Ben's gravestone, while Jackie plays and dances around the stones.
The four main characters are Anna, Ben, Mrs. Chapman, and Jackie. Anna is the very main character, and she has a kind and generous personality. She thinks of others and helps a lot of people such as Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Maynard. She can lose her temper at times, and it is mainly with her younger sister, Katie. She likes playing tennis, doing english, and going to the church. I think she is a good person and I would love to be her friend.
My favourite bit of the book is when it described what Jackie looked like in her pram in the shop. I liked it because it was a wonderful description and it reminded me of my toddler cousin, who was in her pushchair blowing bubbles.
The key themes in the book were Death - when Ben died, Friendship - Anna's friendship with Miranda, Love - Anna's love for Ben, Sport - Anna liked to play tennis, and Family - Anna's family and the situations within it.
I think the book could have included more humour and romance, and could have been told from someone else's perspective.
Overall, I think the book had an alright story but needed quite a lot of improvements.
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