By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Emily Walters

Title: I Am not Esther
Author: Fleur Beale
Publisher: Hyperian
Number of Pages: 250

Close your eyes and imagine. Your mother who you always take care of has left you with her brother. A man who you have never met and lives in a religious cult. That is what happened to Kirby in I am not Esther. Kirby starts off as a regular kid except that she has to take care of her mother, a nurse. After a few days into the holiday season. Something happens. Kirby's mother announces that she has gotten a new job out of Australia. Her mom takes her to a hotel where Kirby's uncle and cousin arrives to take her to her new home. Kirby is different in many ways when she enters the cult, she isn't religious she has never been to Church and she is finding it hard to accept that she must live with these people until she finds her mother. And the cult calls her Esther. A name which she completely denies. Kirby becomes a lily among the weeds. She finds it hard to live by the cult's rules and she gets put in the discipline room...twice. With all the cult's threats and pushing Kirby sticks to her guns and becomes the hero of individuality. But there comes a time when Kirby must decide if she will continue to live with the cult or be cut free from her rope. After reading this book you are unable to portray nor keep in the emotions that befall you.

I would definitely recommend this emotional book to mature and older than 10 readers. Don't miss out on Fleur Beale's homerun. (December, 2002)