It's has been a year since sixteen-year old Jazz was in a car accident that killed her mom and left her with permanent scarring on her face. Once an outgoing girl who liked to experiment with make-up and had dreams of being a lawyer, now Jazz is consumed with grief and insecurities about her facial scars. When her father, a large animal vet, takes a job on a wildlife preserve in Africa, Jazz is devastated. Jazz continues to feel out of place until she comes across a leopard cub whose mother has been killed by poachers. Along with her father and friend Zach, Jazz learns to re-wild her leopard, Asha and learns a lot about herself in the process.
A coming of age story and important story not only for the human aspect of finding confidence within yourself, but for the environmental aspect as well. As Jazz and Asha grow, both of them learn to live and be confident. This is a great lesson for any younger reader. I was happy to see that a lot of emphasis was placed on the importance of predatory animals in an ecosystem and the problems that are encountered with poachers. Author Sibel Hodge is even donating royalties from the sale of The See-Through Leopard to Panthera's Anti-Poaching campaign!
My one criticism of the book is that almost every character that Jazz came in contact with that was not family or a friend of her family, verbally criticized Jazz's scars. For example, Customs Officials made a comment about her scars that Jazz could hear, as did random people at a music concert. I know it was important for the reader to know that Jazz was self-conscious and insecure about her scars, but the amount of times this device was used was unrealistic and overdone. I also, personally did not like where Jazz and Zach's relationship ended up, but the younger me probably would have.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
A coming of age story and important story not only for the human aspect of finding confidence within yourself, but for the environmental aspect as well. As Jazz and Asha grow, both of them learn to live and be confident. This is a great lesson for any younger reader. I was happy to see that a lot of emphasis was placed on the importance of predatory animals in an ecosystem and the problems that are encountered with poachers. Author Sibel Hodge is even donating royalties from the sale of The See-Through Leopard to Panthera's Anti-Poaching campaign!
My one criticism of the book is that almost every character that Jazz came in contact with that was not family or a friend of her family, verbally criticized Jazz's scars. For example, Customs Officials made a comment about her scars that Jazz could hear, as did random people at a music concert. I know it was important for the reader to know that Jazz was self-conscious and insecure about her scars, but the amount of times this device was used was unrealistic and overdone. I also, personally did not like where Jazz and Zach's relationship ended up, but the younger me probably would have.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
