Lake City Way: Ninja Girl

Lake City Way: Ninja Girl by Cait Moore

This was another fun novel sent to me by the fantastic folks at Blackthorn Book Tours.  I have to say, while this novel is clearly for a younger audience, I can’t help but admit that even as a forty-year-old woman I found it to be quite enthralling.  I almost found myself wondering, “Is this truly for young adults?”  I have a baby cousin (she is like my niece because her mama is like my little sister) that is ten years old and I imagined her reading this.  I know she would love it and probably want to become a version of Ninja Girl herself, especially since her brother already takes martial arts lessons, but I also found myself worrying if she would try to pull off some of the wild and outrageous ideas this little ninja tries herself.

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Imagine a twelve-year-old girl, older sister to a younger brother that she feels an intense need to protect and daughter to a single mother that works her butt off on the night shift just to make ends meet and provide for her kids.  This is a typical and quite common set up for single parent families nowadays.  The parent has to work, often less than convenient shifts, leaving the kids to grow up on kind of an honor system.  I know a number of people that grew up this way.  My parents both worked.  And their shifts were all over the place.  Luckily, we were a two-parent home so their shifts were often opposite each other.  But this is not possible for single parent homes.
 
In this story, this twelve-year-old girl is witness to a murder right before her young eyes in her own neighborhood.  This left an indelible mark on her psyche, but not in the way you might think.  She is so tired and fed up with the crime and the lowlifes that create it in her happy little bubble of the world that she has appointed herself the neighborhood watch and clean-up crew, ridding the area of the scum that violate the people that live there and their quality of life.  She turns herself into a nighttime superhero and enlists the help of a neighborhood homeless man as her sidekick and together, they fight the lowest of the lowest slime that plagues their streets.
 
And there you have it.  The story in a nutshell.  But there is SO much more in this manuscript. 
 
One of the best things in my opinion that really makes this main character a true personality is her attitude.  This young lady, I can’t say kid because she’s really beyond that mentally albeit not as far as adult by any means, has an incredible tenacity.  She’s such a strong pre-teen.  She’s smart too.  She’s got the ability to think ahead which is fascinating to me because psychologically speaking a twelve-year-old child doesn’t possess the mental faculties to predict consequences and “see around corners”.  
 
Now, while Gaby (Ninja Girl) does possess some ability to predict consequences, she is not as adept at it as a grown adult would be.  But her attitude can be displayed in the way she talks to people, her take no crap and self-assuredness.  One of the funnier parts of her personality is her unique way of identifying people.  She gives people nicknames.  Now, these nicknames really only make sense to her, but she uses them as if they are the real names of the people she is talking about.  We have Bouncyleg, Wallman and some other creative titles that, when put in context of the events of the novel, can only make you laugh.
 
This story is well written with an interesting, captivating and original plot.  It’s filled with action, humor, fun, and realistic struggles that face today’s youth everyday all over the world.  Characters with depth and true personalities bring the story to live and give it heavy emotional weight as you go from the highs of heroism to the lows of life as a latchkey kid in the projects riddled with crime and violence.
 
This is a wonderful work of fiction that is not only inspiring and entertaining, but eye-opening as well because it addresses the problems of life in low income areas, focusing specifically on the point of view of that life from a child’s perspective.  Yet, it is fun and entertaining and uplifting as it deals with real life issues woven in with a fantastic world of fantasy.
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars

The Blurb

Driven mad by poverty, the death of her father, and the ruthless streets of North Seattle’s Lake City, twelve-year-old Gabriela Urieta puts on her ski-mask at night and becomes Ninja Girl. In her own mind, she’s a superhero—the only hope for cleaning up her neighborhood. In reality, she’s a sixth-grader who drugs her little brother to sleep so she can sneak out at night and rob criminals.Using money taken from her victims, Gaby hires a transient as her sidekick, naming him “Wallman.” Together they get lost in her comic-book fantasy. But before long, Ninja Girl and her family find themselves in all sorts of danger.


About Cait Moore 

Cait Moore, studied commerce and law in Australia and pursued her career in the capital markets in London. Since she was knee high to a kangaroo, she’s harboured a deep love for the written word. Her fervent belief in the “one” has led her to explore in her fiction, what binds two hearts and souls. Hers belongs to her husband, author, Michael J Moore. 

Follow her at: 

http://www.facebook.com/cait.moore.5477
AND
https://caitmoorewriting.wixsite.com/website