Whelan, Gloria.
LISTENING FOR LIONS
New York : HarperCollins, 2005.
IL 5-8, RL 6.0
ISBN 0060581743

(2 booktalks)

Rachel loves her life in Africa but that is all about to change.  Her missionary parents die in the 1919 influenza epidemic and leave Rachel with no family and no prospects.  Befriended by neighbors, Rachel is tricked into impersonating their daughter and traveling to England where she will meet "Grandfather" and try to persuade him to reinstate the neighbors in his will.  But Rachel hates the idea of tricking the old man and she misses Africa terribly.  What can she do to make things right?

Booktalk #2

Thirteen-year-old Rachel Sheridan is left an orphan after influenza takes the lives of her missionary parents in British East Africa in 1919. When cruel neighbors take her in, Rachel suspects their intentions may not be honest. Soon, Rachel becomes entangled in a shocking and nefarious plot that takes her away from her beloved East Africa on a lonely and treacherous journey across the ocean. Surrounded by greed and lies, Rachel must rely on her irrepressible spirit and extraordinary wit to weather her incredible adventure. And somewhere along the way, between deception and hope, the truth sets Rachel free and Africa calls her home.  (Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award 2008)