Six Weeks to Yehidah by Melissa Studdard Blog Tour Stop and Joint Review

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Publisher: All Things That Matter Press
Source: Publisher
Standalone
*This was gifted to me from publisher for review*
"The thing you would notice most was the rain, how the rain fell and fell and never seemed to stop. The sky was constantly swollen with it, then birthing it, swollen, then birthing again, and the hills, like greedy babies, suckled up all that rain. They shone and glistened green as the backs of frogs on bright green lily pads.
Annalise was ten then, old enough that she’d begun thinking about grown up things, like picking her own clothes out for school, yet young enough, still, to indulge in fanciful imaginings of enchanted trees and talking hills. Her best friends were the clouds that canopied her village and the verdant hills that hosted her most precious and outrageous dreams."
As spunky young Annalise travels from one adventure to another, she learns ancient wisdom traditions and gains deeper and deeper insight into herself and her world. Eventually she must make the most important decision she's ever faced -- whether or not to return to the self she has always known.


Author Bio
Melissa Studdard is the author of the bestselling novel Six Weeks to Yehidah, which also won the 2011 Forward National Literature Award for Middle Grade Chapter Books. She is also a professor, a book reviewer at-large for The National Poetry Review, a contributing editor for both Tiferet Journal and The Criterion, and the host of the radio interview program Tiferet Talk. As well, she is a member of many literary organizations, including the National Book Critics Circle and the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators.
She loves anything related to writing and reading, whether it's sitting alone with a book and a cup of hot tea, or attending a large poetry reading or literary festival. She also loves travelling, meditating, going for walks, bicycling, practicing yoga, and spending time with family.
She currently resides in Texas with her wonderful daughter and their four sweet but mischievous cats

Jasmine's Review
This was a little young for me. It didn't have a lot of excitement. One thing it did have a lot of was creativity. It was very unique. Also the main character was absolutely adorable. I think this was such a cute read and I think a lot of people will enjoy it.

Annalise is quite the character. She is an adorable little girl. She has a great personality. She always made the best of things. She was very smart and creative. She fit in perfectly with the storyline. She had quite the adventure and she had a lot of fun during it. Not only did she have fun but she learned some good lessons also. I didn't really understand Mabel and Mimi. I think because they were sheep who acted like human kinda threw me off. But, I thought they were a nice addition to the story. They were hilarious and good companions. Plus they were super cute. This had some pretty interesting secondary characters. I liked how different they were from each other. They all had their own unique qualities.

The plot was a little slow at times. All the tasks were pretty interesting but there wasn't any action. I loved all the different settings. There was so many colorful, unique worlds. Two words come to mind when I think about this book. One, creative and two adorable. Overall this was such a cute read. It's perfect for middle grade. I enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad I got the chance to read it. Everything was so well done. I think a lot of people will enjoy this and I highly recommend. 4/5 stars

Marissa's review:

This wasn't my normal read. The main character was younger than I'm used to. But I still enjoyed it. It sort of reminded me of Alice in Wonderland or A Wrinkle in Time and all the movies/books I loved when I was little. I think if I read this when I was younger it would have been one of my favorites.

Annalise was a really fun character to read about. She was very upbeat and kept moving forward. She seemed old for her age. But at the same time I could tell I was reading from a ten year olds point of view. I think my favorite thing about thing about this book was the side-kicks-especially the animal ones. I think there should be more of those in books. Mabel and Mimi her talking sheep and best friends were so entertaining. Bob was always there for Annalise and I liked how his story played out. I never knew what to expect from Hogski.

Annalise and her side-kicks went to a lot of different places. An Acoustic Island, Utopian Falls, a garden, a labyrinth, a sheep heaven, a city underwater and more. I loved reading about all the places they went to and how different and original they were.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It had a really nice message and a nice character journey. I wanted to see how it ended and what happened to the characters so it was a very quick read for me. Even if like me this isn't what you normally read I would still suggest you read it. You might be surprised.
4/5 stars