Book: Darkness Under The Water by Beth Kanell

Pages: 320, Hardcover

This book was not good.  It’s about an Abenaki-French-Canadian girl who lives in Vermont in the 1920’s.  Molly realizes that her family, and others like them, are being target by the government to get rid of certain segments of the population. 

As far as a novel about a state-run eugenics program that targets the Abernaki tribe, it utterly failed.  Not only did the author not really talk about either, it’s hard to see this being aimed at young adults.  There was one scene in particular, where Molly’s mom goes into early labor, and it was more detailed than it really needed to be.  There’s also the fact that Molly and her grandma believe that Molly’s mom was sterlized so that she can’t have any more children.  It’s also implied that the nurses who are in town for the eugenics project smothered the baby. 

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that Molly’s dead older sister Gratia talked to her somewhat frequently.  It got annoyed, and it served no purpose whatsoever.  Plus, it was really boring, and the characters didn’t stand out.  I couldn’t relate to them, or to what was happening. 

It gets a 1 out of 5.