Viewer's review: If You Come Softly

If You Come Softly
Jacqueline Woodson
ISBN-13: 978-0141314488

When I was 16, I broke my leg and was told to read in the school library instead of taking part in my PE lesson. I asked our librarian if she could recommend any books for me to read, as I had already wasted some time lost in my daydreams, she handed me If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson. I read the synopsis on the back:

Ellie and Miah. Miah and Ellie.
A special, private, exclusive love.
They have something apart form the rest of the world.
Why can’t the rest of the world see it like that?

This book is about Jeremiah and Elisha. They are both children in a private school in New York City. Miah is black and Ellie is white. They meet in the school hall and their lives are forever changed. They start meeting each other in secret because their parents and their friends won’t understand. Miah invites Ellie over to meet his mum (his parents are divorced). Ellie tells Miah that her family would not understand if she was to introduce him and would tell her that she must not see him. Miah takes her reluctance to introduce him to her family as a sign that she does not love him like he loves her. Ellie agrees to introduce him to her family after she realises how much she does love him and that he will always be in her life. On the way home, Ellie tells Miah this, and that they will meet. The twist at the end of the book takes you off guard and shows that you should never take the person you love for granted.

By Rebecca Reeves from Liverpool

Rebecca has also enjoyed reading the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer and Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes.