It is Dargaville, in the mid 1920s. Throughout her diary eleven year-old Ivana Ivanovich introduces us to her strong Dalmatian community. Ivana's life revolves around the local convent* school. Sunday matinees*, and the boarding house she calls home.
She loves school, looks forward to a wedding in the family, and puts up with elocution* lessons because she knows her parents want her to have a 'better life'. All the same, Ivana wishes her name didn't end with 'ich'.
Then, as 1924 draws to a close, the little community is rocked by an epidemic* that means children are forbidden to congregate* anywhere … not even to go to school or church.
Review/Summary -
Ivana Ivanovich is an eleven year-old Dalmatian girl. As her family imports from Dalmatia/Croatia to Dargaville/New Zealand they have to learn how to do things the NZ way. She is a standard 5 and goes to a boarding school. But when an epidemic hits New Zealand ( infantile paralysis* or poliomyelitis) children under the age of 16 (except the lolly boy who works at the pictures) are forbidden to go anywhere public.
Rating -
9/10 - because the story was very informative.
Personally -
I really enjoyed reading this story as it told a lot of how other cultures lived.
I recommend this book to people 8 years and older.
*Convent-
1. Nunnery, monastery, priory, abbey, cloister, religious community.
*Matinees
1. An entertainment, especially a dramatic or musical performance, held in the daytime usually the afternoon
*Elocution
1. Pronunciation, enunciation, articulation,diction, speech, intonation, vocalization,modulation; phrasing, delivery, public speaking.
*Epidemic
1.Outbreak, pandemic*, epizootic*.
*Pandemic
1. Widespread, prevalent, pervasive, rife, rampant
*Epizootic
1. Of, relating to or denoting disease that is temporarily prevalent and widespread in an animal population.
2. An outbreak of such a disease
