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Book Summary and Reviews of Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner

Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner

Hold Tight, Don't Let Go

by Laura Rose Wagner

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  • Published:
  • Jan 2015, 272 pages
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Book Summary

Hold Tight, Don't Let Go follows the vivid story of two teenage cousins, raised as sisters, who survive the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. After losing the woman who raised them in the tragedy, Magdalie and Nadine must fend for themselves in the aftermath of the quake. The girls are inseparable, making the best of their new circumstances in a refugee camp with an affectionate, lively camaraderie, until Nadine, whose father lives in Miami, sends for her but not Magdalie. As she leaves, Nadine makes a promise she cannot keep: to bring Magdalie to Miami, too. Resourceful Magdalie focuses her efforts on a reunion with Nadine until she realizes her life is in Haiti, and that she must embrace its possibilities for love, friendship, and a future.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. An insightful disaster-survival story with far-reaching emotional resonance." - Kirkus

"Starred Review. Wagner's portrait of Haitian culture is particularly compelling, and her descriptions of the settings of the city and Tonton Ãlie's country hometown are lush, despite the nation's dire circumstances." - Publishers Weekly

"Grades 7-10 Magdalie's life is literally shattered when an earthquake hits Port-au-Prince. In this impressive debut novel, Wagner recreates the aftermath in astonishing detail." - Booklist

This information about Hold Tight, Don't Let Go was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Laura Rose Wagner

Laura Rose Wagner has a PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She lived in Port-au-Prince from 2009 to 2012, and survived the earthquake. She travels to Haiti often, and founded a creative writing group for young people there.

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