A Review of Emily’s Ride to Courage, by Sarah Maury Swan (CreateSpace, 2017). ISBN: 978-1978170179 (paperback)
Eighteen months ago I reviewed Sarah Maury Swan’s Young Adult (YA) novel Terror’s Identity , which tells the story of family who has to move from their home and assume secret identities because of the father’s work fighting terrorism. The story was told through the point of view of the teenage son and it was quite the action-packed thriller. Emily’s Ride to Courage —although it shares similarities with Terror’s Identity , such as the upheaval of a family because of a parent’s commitment to fighting evil in the world—is a much different book in tone and pace. Emily is not only the title character, but our narrator. Readying for her seventh grade year, with all of the self-doubt, excess energy, and shifting emotions of a girl her age, Emily is dealing with the news that her mother, a doctor, is going to Afghanistan to serve in the medical corps. Because Emily’s father travels a great deal for work, Emily and her 14-year-old dance-obsessed sister Jen will be spending the summer wit...