Muti's Necklace: The Oldest Story in the World

Hawes, Louise. Muti's Necklace: The Oldest Story in the World. Illustrated by Rebecca Guay. Houghton Mifflin: 2006. Ages 8-12.

The fiction story, Muti's Necklace by Louise Hawes entertains while you get a life lesson out of the whole thing. The main female character receives a necklace from her father as a young girl. It is very precious to her and when one day it falls overboard as she was rowing for the king she stops rowing. The king offers Muti many more jewels and she refuses them all ("No thank you, I prefer my own necklace to any other. No matter how beautiful."). The king sends for a magician who moves apart the water so Muti can retrieve her necklace. Hawes does a fine job of making a strong, confident female character who female characters will love. She even turns down the king when he asks her to be his queen. There is a graceful flow to the book with fantasy hand sketched illustrations. I suggest this book to girls between the ages of 8 and 12.

Reviewed by R. A., 8th grade, Van Buren Middle School