Slave Girl

Jenna Bookallil-Brown #1

by Alexa Moses

Thirteen-year-old exchange student Jenna has nabbed an appointment in New York's coolest hair salon, but when her teacher insists she stay with the group at the boring Metropolitan Museum, she storms off and stumbles into what she thinks is a fancy-dress party. And it is a party. In ancient Egypt. 3500 years ago. Once Jenna accepts she's really travelled back in time, she realises she has to work out a way home - with only her big mouth, a smart phone and a pair of second-hand Marc Jacobs sandals to get her out alive. Jenna's attempts to bluff her way out of her precarious situation are often brave, sometimes ingenious and guaranteeably funny.

Genres: Egypt, Childrens

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

Alexa Moses graduated from a masters degree in screenwriting at the Australian Film Television and Radio school convinced she wanted to write books but ended up a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper instead and enjoyed it thoroughly. When she's not at the gym, knitting, arguing, bingeing on comedy or listening to music, she’s writing books.

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirteen year old Jenna Bookallil-Brown was in New York from her home in Sydney, Australia on an exchange visit. Her great aunt Mimi lived in New York and was the reason her Mum finally allowed Jenna to join her classmates and head to New York. She was so very excited – her hair appointment at one of the classiest salons in New York was something she could brag about to her friends back home for months on end. But her teacher Mr Greenfield was determined she would remain with the rest of the students at the Metropolitan Museum – enjoying the culture was much more important!

Storming away from the group, Jenna removed herself as far from them as she could, all the while trying to work out a way to escape, and make it to her appointment on time. When she spied a wild-looking one eyed cat which appeared to be peering directly at her, she followed it, stumbling into a room full of partying people all in fancy dress – but what was happening? Who were these people and why was their speech and manner so different?

It took her awhile but she finally realized she was no longer in New York, in fact she was no longer in her own time – ancient Egypt was where she had ended up. How and why, she had no idea, but the terrifying thing for Jenna was – how would she get home? With the arrogant prince and grumpy, scary pharaoh determined to keep her locked up, would she ever see her Mum or Aunt Mimi again?

What a delightful time travel adventure for youngsters (probably 8-12 year-old I'd say). Obviously I’m (a little) older than that, and I really enjoyed Jenna’s adventures – her quick wit, her determination and her bravery – a great story I have no hesitation in recommending.

With thanks to Book’d Out and the publisher for my copy which I won.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love discovering Australian Author’s; they are always interesting and diverse. Alexa Moses is no exception to this rule and Slave Girl was a great read directed at Middle Grade-Young Adult. The easy flow of the writing style was fabulous and the characters were fun.

Jenna Bookallil-Brown is a 13 year old on an exchange program, currently visiting museums in New York. Jenna is very excited to be in New York staying with her Great Aunt and trying to become the sophisticated, fashion conscious teen that every girl wants to be. Jenna is visiting the Metropolitan Museum and has an appointment that she must get to. Her chaperone will not allow her to leave and Jenna is torn whether to disobey or just suck it up.

Jenna notices a strange cat under the bench she is contemplating on and the cat watches Jenna in return; how strange. The cat jumps onto the bench and steals the envelope with all Jenna’s money for her appointment. OMG – a cat stealing an envelope full of money, haha. Jenna takes off after the cat to rescue her treasured envelope.

One second Jenna was in the Museum and the next in a strange room with a party themed with people in Egyptian costumes. Huh, Jenna has no idea what is going on, why would there be a party at the Museum like this? Jenna is still chasing the cat, spots it behind a group of dancers. Trying to stay inconspicuous, she crouches and waddles over towards the cat; the cat takes off, Jenna gets caught and is taken into a room with a bunch of other girls.

Jenna still doesn’t know what is going on and everybody doesn’t seem to know what she is talking about or understanding her way of talking. Before long Jenna is taken to the kitchen to start her daily duties, she is now a slave.

Will Jenna find that dastardly cat? Can she find her way home to New York in her current era? Will she be able to survive being a slave and all it entails?

Follow along on a fun adventure with Jenna, trying to search for the cat while not being captured or imprisoned or even sentenced to death. This was a fantastic quick read that I recommend to all Middle Grade readers and above for something fun. Plus hello, Australian authors are fantastic. This is the first in a series of adventures for Jenna and I look forward to reading the next.

[Michele Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect for the age group it is aimed at. Although it would have been good to show the 'new' Jenna, so the reader saw that she really had changed .

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Alexa Moses approached me to review Slave Girl, I had to confess I choose not to review books for the younger age group however, wanting to support a debut Australian women writer, with Alexa’s approval I decided to ask my nine year old daughter, Aleah, if the book’s synopsis seemed like something she would enjoy. When she nodded her head enthusiastically, we struck a deal, she would read Slave Girl and write a review for me to publish here at Book’d Out.

Aleah is an avid reader, though not quite as obsessive as I am (yet). She has taken her role very seriously and though I gave her the occasional tip, the following review is written in her own words:

Slave Girl is a wonderful and adventurous novel by Alex Moses about a teenage girl named Jenna Bookalil-Brown. Jenna is Australian but is in New York as part of a student exchange program. Jenna thought that being in New York would be cool and she might even see some celebrities but her teacher keeps taking her to museums and stuff and she is bored. One day when they are at the Metropolitan Museum, Jenna is upset because she can’t go and get her haircut and hides from her teacher in the Egyptian room. While she is sulking a cat comes and Jenna chases it behind a statue. Jenna thinks she has somehow found a secret party because she is suddenly in a room where people are dressed like Ancient Egyptians but there is something weird about everything and they think Jenna is a slave. It takes a while for Jenna to realise that she is really in Ancient Egypt! Jenna has to figure out how to get home, she gets in trouble a lot but keeps trying to chase the orange cat she saw when she was in the museum. I thought it was funny and a bit scary when Jenna nearly got eaten by a hippopotamus. I was sad when she kept getting caught but Jenna was smart and kept thinking of a way out. Showing the prince her phone was smart even though it got her into more trouble. I liked Ebio because she was nice to Jenna but Satiah was pretty mean until the end bit. I liked the book’s creativity, it is very exciting and sometimes it is funny. I don’t think I would like to time travel to Ancient Egypt though. In the end, this book is very exciting and great. I enjoyed this book! I give it 4 stars.

****

I also read Slave Girl and concur with Aleah’s opinion. As a parent I had only one minor issue with the physical description of a young girl in the book that didn’t seem necessary, though it didn’t even register with Aleah. In my opinion, Slave Girl is a book full of adventure, fun and is even educational, suitable for tween age girls.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very fun and a quick, light read that I thoroughly enjoyed :) Exchange student Jenna is bored at the museum on her school trip to New York; she wanders off from her group and has her money stolen by a stray cat, whom she follows... right into ancient Egypt! It's a perilous and crazy journey for her to find the cat again to get back to the present day. Lots of fun, but not much explanation - there's not really any reason for her being there, no quest she has to fulfill or anything and then the ending is a bit of a letdown, when she finds the cat at last and is transported back to the 21st century, and she's still in her Egyptian robes and wonders how she'll explain THAT... but she never has to because the book ends before she rejoins her group. Grr!

[Heather Gallagher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the Slavery theme for my Book Group. I have to say I found the main character and her narcissism and shallow interests incredibly annoying. The metaphors rather than enhance the reading experience were distracting and took me out of the story. I liked the high stakes action - kidnapping, etc - and that Jenna was forced to become brave and (shock) get dirty, etc to eventually find her way home. I realise that time-shift is difficult but I would've liked a bit more on how she mysteriously travelled in time.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a quick read (well for me at least) but its surprisingly good and had me enjoying all of it