Back by Sunrise: A Magical Realism Story

Eternal Light, Book 1

De: Justin Sloan

Narrado por: Rebecca Greene

A young girl learns that love and family are forever, with the help of a magical necklace that transforms her into a bird.

Movie rights recently optioned!

Back by Sunrise illustrates a thoughtful coming-of-age story, which shows how a child might interpret - and subsequently deal with - loss when tragedy strikes.

©2014 Justin Sloan (P)2015 Justin Sloan

A magical story of healing and strength.

If you could sum up Back by Sunrise: A Magical Realism Story in three words, what would they be?

Back By Sunrise is a story about a young girl named brooke who receives a magical necklace ffrom her father who has left to serve in the military. The necklce gives Brooke powers but along the way she finds enemies and firiends. It's a subtrly moral story about finding true friends and strength in hard times.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved all the animal characters because they really brought the story a unique bent. Narrator Rebecca Greene did a great job of differentiatng them with different voices.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

This would be a great film for families! Country mouse vs City Mouse comes to mind...

Loved this book!

This is a beautiful story about a young girl facing the death of her father. With a touch of magic, the author weaves a lovely story about the girl growing and dealing with her problem.

Life lessons for kids

Where does Back by Sunrise: A Magical Realism Story rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For this type if a book its at the top of my list.

What other book might you compare Back by Sunrise: A Magical Realism Story to and why?

This book is similar to the The Invisible String because it teaches kids how to deal with difficult emotions in a way they can understand.

What does Rebecca Greene bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She made the book fun and vibrant. It was something a child could listen to and not be bored,

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

At the every end of the book the final message the father left for the children.

Any additional comments?

* I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

fairytale quality of the writing

This story was a lovely parable about the nature of death in the life of a young child.
Brooke absolutely adores her father and when he goes away on active duty for the military and doesn't come home, she's distraught. He promised her that he would come home to finish painting birds and woodland creatures on the mural in her bedroom but now he can never do that.

As you can tell from the synopsis, Brooke turns into a bird when she puts on the necklace she finds from her father following his death and when she doesn't make it back home by sunrise as the note she finds with it instructs her to do, she cannot turn back into her human form.

While she is stuck in her bird form, she feels an even greater sense of helplessness than she's been feeling since the death of her father. She finds that making new friends eases her burden, especially when faced by a greater evil hat stands between her and becoming human again to rejoin her family.
She meets Roy, a kind young bird who teaches her how to use her wings and shares with her the loss of his father and Timmy, a mouse with his own sad story who teaches her to think about the feelings of her family as well as her own.

The message in this story comes through loud and clear, that friends and family are important in times of bereavement and that though the pain feels personal and lonely, other people have gone through the same thing too and others may be sharing in your grief.

What I like most about this story is that it doesn't come across as sad, it is the story of a child on a magical adventure and coming across challenges but coming through the other side. The fairytale quality of the writing takes the edge off the painful topic and feels comfortably familiar.

I would definitely recommend this story for a primary aged child going through a bereavement or even to children in general to help them understand the concept of loss.

Rebecca Greene brought a great energy  which would easily keep a child's attention and lightened the mood of the story. Her character voices were very entertaining and she made Brooke's grief seem very real, her performance and the production quality of this audiobook were second to none.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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A great coming of age novel.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sure. I thought that the ending was very meaningful, and we watched a young girl matures into an adult. Personally, I thought that was very satsifying.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I thought that after Brooke turned into a bird, her adventure was a little boring. But there shouldn't be any changes, since the slow pace is perfect for the overall meaning.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I can't distinguish the characters, they all sound the same. And I nearly fell asleep, so....

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No. It was an interesting book, however not interesting enough to make me stand up and go to the cinema. I am simply too lazy.

Any additional comments?

Nope.