Book Review

     "He shined the light on the mound of fallen leaves. Jutting out from the pile was an unfathomably small- yet unmistakably human-foot." Catherine Ryan Hyde's When I Found You captured my heart with its compelling compassion.
     When I Found You encourages its readers to follow their hearts. Nat met a girl at Frosty Freeze named Carol. He knew that he liked this girl a lot, so he decided to win her over every way he could. Nat also wanted to be a professional boxer when he got good enough to fight better players. He followed his heart to get to his goal as close as he could. Nathan wanted Nat to except him and get to know him. Nathan never gave up on trying to the best parent figure he could to Nat.
     The author's style totally sets the mood of her book When I Found You. The diction and how much she described every event really made this book so enjoyable to read. Such as, "Then a click, and a brusque male voice on the line." Her description in her book made everything so clear. Such as, "It was wrapped in a sweater- a regular adult-size sweater- and wore a tiny, well-fitted, multicolored knit cap." This gives her readers a perfect picture of a scene she was trying to portray. Another example of this is "Nathan stood in the cool autumn dark, a moment before sunrise, his shotgun angles up across his shoulder."
     The setting of the book impacts the main conflict of the book in a huge way. The book says, "He scooped underneath the lump with both gloved hands at once, lifted the child up to him, blew leaves off its face." This affects the conflict by telling the readers that the baby was in the woods. Another example is Nathan's wife would not him keep the child. He was worried about what kind of home he would be going back to. Lastly, Nat's grandma could not handle him anymore, so she dumped him back off at Nathan's house years later. Nat had behavioral problems, so Nathan had to teach him to become the man he needed to be in the time period that they lived in.
     I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read about following your heart and having compassion. This book shows that it is possible to put ourselves aside to help others and help them chase their dreams.