Published on 04/27/2010

"Golden's Rule" by author C.E. Edmonson centers around fourteen-year-old Maddie Bergamo who seems to have it all— looks, brains, mad moves on the basketball court, a cute crush, and true friends. Her life right on track to make her eventual goals of the Olympics and a sports scholarship to her Ivy League dream school. But then life topples her neatly stacked plans, and Maddie finds herself in a fight for survival. As events spiral out of her control, Maddie receives an unexpected gift: an ancestor’s extraordinary diary of life as a slave girl. And what Maddie discovers within those pages changes her world forever.

Golden’s Rule: A Novel by C. E. Edmonson: Book Review

Pleasant Word (2009)
ISBN 9781414113784
Reviewed by Brenna Bales (age 12) for Reader Views (8/09)

Maddie Bergamo has the perfect life. She’s smart, pretty, has great friends, is the star of the basketball team, and hopes to ask her crush to the dance. Her life seems to be going in all the right directions for her to make it to the Olympics and earn a scholarship to the Ivy League school she dreams about. But, all of a sudden, her life takes a turn for the worse. Death is around the corner, and she has no way of controlling what will happen to her. Maddie soon receives her ancestor’s diary about life as a slave, and what she uncovers will alter her life forever.

The author does a great job telling the story, and the way he tells it, makes it seem like you are the character. A story that is interesting from beginning to end is what most readers look for in a book. This novel is an excellent example of that. Stories like these are favorites of mostly everybody, even people just like Maddie. The life lesson of having faith in your self is the key to having a happy life.

Anyone who is age 12 to 16 would find “Golden’s Rule” impossible to put down. A lot of teenagers would find Maddie’s thoughts to be just like their own. The book is fiction, but a lot of people do go through what Maddie experiences. Their battles may be easier, or maybe harder, than Maddie’s, but if they read this book it would definitely give them hope.

This fantastic novel is perfect to read with the family, because it brings everyone together. It’s heart-warming, touching, and inspiring. My favorite part was when Maddie realizes that after everything, what she looks like doesn’t really matter at all. As long as she still had a chance to survive, she would be happy.

I loved “Golden’s Rule,” by C. E. Edmonson and will suggest it to many other people. I would rate the book a flawless score of 5. I hope a lot of children have the opportunity to read this book, and I will always remember it as one of my favorites.