Medina Hill by Trilby Kent

Many moons ago, when I got invited to participate in the Medina Hill Book Blog Tour, I convinced Kayla that she totally should read it along with me so we could chat about it.

This is how our conversations went every couple weeks in the 2 months leading up to today’s post.

Kayla: Have you finished Medina Hill?

Janssen: Have not yet picked it up. I am an important person with an important job and a life. And we have plenty of time! Do not worry!

Kayla: Are you ready to talk about Medina Hill?

Janssen: Well, I read the inside flap so…no.

Kayla: Ok, seriously, you need to read Medina Hill so we can talk about it! The tour is next week!

Janssen: I have new boots!

Or something like that.

In any event, I finally read Medina Hill and we discussed.

Medina Hill by Trillby Kent

Here is the official blurb from the publisher:

Kayla: Ok, so, how much did you love all the stuff about Lawrence of Arabia? All I knew about him was that Peter O’Toole played him in a film in the 60s but I had NO CLUE he was a real person. I loved the stuff about him sprinkled throughout the book. I kind of want to go check out a book about him now.

Janssen: I know! I love a book that references other books or major historical characters as a main plot point. Mockingbird, which I read a few weeks ago, heavily relied on “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Girlfriend Material” referenced “The Sun Also Rises” and I love Lawrence of Arabia stuff since taking a World War I class from my father-in-law back in London. It was just so fun to watch Dominic get inspired by Lawrence and act like he thought Lawrence would. Isn’t that what history should do? (Oh, is that my history nerd self talking?) I think that was the book’s major success.

Kayla: Agreed.

Janssen: But frankly, that was pretty much the only success for me.

Kayla: Also agreed. All of Medina Hill just fell kind of didn’t it? And it was really slow for a children’s book.

Janssen: Exactly. It was made worse, perhaps, by the potential this plot had. I mean, you couldn’t ask for more than this book offered up (except maybe romance, but I’ll let my personal preferences slide because this is a children’s book) – crazy characters, a father suffering the effects of war, gypsies, a treasure hunt, a COOKING CONTEST, but I never felt like it really all came together. It was just too much; a classic case of too much width, not enough depth. It spread itself too thin, without making me care much about any of the characters, and it resolved itself too quickly.

Kayla: Exactly, the climax felt really unsatisfying and I would have loved to hear more about the quirky boarders. There was a whole lot more story there that just didn’t get told. I do think I would like to know what happened to the gypsies. I was very concerned when they moved CLOSER to Hitler at the end of the book. A follow-up book on the Romany during WWII would probably be worth reading. The thing is, I think Trilby Kent has a lot of potential. The ideas were there. I think she just needs to give herself more pages to really delve into her characters and possibly write for a slightly older audience (like shooting for older YA rather than middle grades).

Janssen: Precisely.

Overall, we felt some kids will find a lot to like here, but it’s going to need to be a very dedicated reader who is willing to accept the slowish pace. It’s really the kind of book we could see a kid reading and then going off hunting for some books about Lawrence of Arabia. And we wouldn’t blame him one bit since that’s totally what we’re planning on doing.

To continue on with the Let’s Tour Medina Hill book blog tour, please visit Carrie’s YA Bookshelf!

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