Sandry’s Book

Tamora Pierce

Briar, Tris, Daja and Sandry hae been left without their close families and packed off to Winding Circle. All from very different backgrounds, and initially it seems like Sandry is the only one making an effort to spin them together. It’s a great children’s book.

The majority of this book is each of the characters finding themselves and their magic. It is a foreign concept to them that magic can be anything other than special words for a love spell, or an alarm spell for protecting special trees. I can easily see the magic in the simple things, such as growing plants. Some people have green thumbs!

Although the point of view is split between each of the four children, it still reads nicely, and I was able to get attached to each of them. If there was a fault in this book, it would be that I felt like Briar’s character didn’t get enough air time.

Something that struck me about the new titles for the books (each after the four main characters) was that they no longer really do justice to the story. I wouldn’t have said that this first book was specifically about Sandry, it is more of an introduction to all four of them.

I couldn’t tell you what attracted me to the book in the first place, because I’ve read it so many times that it is just comforting to me to read it. It is a very short read, I can read it in 1-2 hours, but younger readers would probably take longer. I’ve been reading and rereading this book for years now. I can still remember checking out ragged old copies of it from the high school library! Back then, it was called the far more descriptive ‘The Magic in the Weaving’. Or now, a quick google tells me that that’s the UK version and this is a USA version that I have. Anyway, I think it’s unfair to call it ‘Sandry’s Book’, as it is about the other three as well.

This book is certainly suitable for children, and some teens as well. No blood or guts, just If you’re like me, and encountered this book earlier in your life, do you still love it just the same?