The Gypsy Game

It is always hard to assess how the target audience (I'd say in this case a 10 to 12 year old) will react to a book compared to an adult's impression. It’s also hard to know how sensitive a young person is to reading about real-life scary events happening to the characters. If a reader was

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enthused about 'The Egypt Game', then I am pretty sure 'Gypsy' will be thoroughly enjoyed, despite it being quite different to 'Egypt'.

There was not much elaborate game development with the gypsy theme and certainly no attempted assaults on any of the kids. The narrative is mostly about what happens with Toby. The game is more of a backdrop to the story as a focus to draw in the original 'Egypt' gang. The characters are very well done.

Not having read 'The Egypt Game' in more than 20 years, I'd forgotten how superbly Snyder writes from the childrens' perspective. I think that's what makes her novels so effective for her audience ~ it's really authentic.

I dropped one star because I felt the novel had a very weak ending. And I suspect that an imaginative child who so enjoyed the creation of the game in 'Egypt' will perhaps be rather disappointed at the lack of game development in 'Gypsy'.

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