Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

Rating:
Summary: OK, Easy Read
Review: A true account told by one of the daughter of 3 young mixed blood girls. Living on an outback property the girls are taken from their aboriginal families and taken down south to a town where 'others' like them (half bloods) are to be raised, educated and cultured. The premise of the book and movie is how these young girls escape and manage to walk hundres of kilometers back home.

The book is just small and easily read in a few days. Told somewhat like a history book, it has actually accounts and police recorded information on the progress of the girls escape. It takes a little while to get into it but if your interested in Australian scenery, the outback, early Australian history, then give it a go. It is by no means a book to rave about, but a nice easy read, thats not heavy going.

Rating:
Summary: It's to the point.
Review: The story is only 135 pages long. There's very little speculation on what could have happened during the weeks of of the girls' trek home. The book is very matter of fact.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm glad I read the book first. I suspect they'll be adding "Hollywood" to the screenplay.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable and True
Review: This is a truely moving novel and all the more so because it is true. Set in the 1930's it is a story of three aboriginal girls who were forcably taken from there families in the desert of western australia and put in a native settlement to be trained in the ways of 'white' society.
The way aboriginals were treated was apauling and it is one of australias darkest secrets refered to now as the 'stolen generation'.
Molly who is fourteen leads her two sisters in an escape and journeys something like 2400km across the australian desert, amazing by anyones standards but these are children.
they are pursued by trackers and search planes, and walk until they reach the rabbit proof fence. A fence that crosses australia from north to south and will lead these three determined children home.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Story
Review: What an amazing story. It's made all the more powerful by the blending of historical background and the knowledge that the story is being told by someone with firsthand experience of the institution as well as a direct connection to the main characters. This is a good read, about a subject not often heard about in the States. This book will be making the rounds of my friends and family.