A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, is a story that has little suspense. Only parts of the book keep you wondering about the events that happen through out the story. This story is told from main character, Mattie Gokey's, perspective.

Mattie is sixteen years old and has big dreams, but they die when her mom passes away. She can't take care of her family after her mom's death and go to college too. One of Mattie's plans before her mom's death was to get a job at the local hotel during summer to raise money for college. Instead of raising money for school, Mattie ended up working the summer away to buy a new mule for their farm. Most girls Mattie's age are getting married, but Mattie has different plans. Now, Mattie has to accept her new future, working on their farm.

Finally, when Mattie gats the job at the hotel, she begins to unravel a mystery about a couple of guest that suddenly go missing. Mattie also gets secret letters from a guest, which she is suppose to burn. Mattie doesn't burn the letter; She carries them around for a while, reading them. This helps Mattie to figure out a few things about herself.

This story has positive and negative qualities. One positive quality is Mattie's life. Her life is interesting, such as all the things she does to help her family and how she wants to go to college. Mattie's teacher, Ms. Wilcox, is the one who influenced her to go to college. Also, she is brave and very determined to do what she wants. She influences me to be brave and to do want I want. One negative quality is how Mattie tells her stories. She tells them from the past to the present, and it makes the story a little hard to follow. After reading more through the book it was easier to understand.

A Northern Light was a good book, but I wouldn't recommend it. The pace of the story was kind of slow and it was dull in some parts. It was an interesting book in the parts about the missing guest and Mattie's life. It kept me wanting to read more then. It wouldn't be a book I would want to read again.