Just a Girl by Jackie French

"Because you have strength, girl. You and Baratha. You bought meat to your family. You girded your skirts about your loins, even though the women scoffed. You fought for your family. I saved you because you have the strength of love. You were never just a girl."

Actually the title of this book needs to be changed to NOT just a girl because Judith's work ethic, ingenuity, problem solving, care of her family and resourcefulness are inspirational

In the middle of the night Rabba, the grandmother, wakes Judith and demands to be carried away from their home, away from the village, out to the wadi. Judith is told to also take her little sister Baratha and the family's goat.  When she returns for their sleeping pallets she sees Romans arriving. They break down the gates to her village and begin their attack. As Judith watches she sees them kill her mother and cries silent tears as her sisters abducted.

It seems Rabba knew an attack would come. The wadi contains so much food. "It was a cave, the biggest I had seen ... crammed with chests and pots and giant amphorae all stopped with clay or wax."

The little group can survive but what of their future?  To complicate things a young man arrives. Caius is a slave on the run. Judith knocks him down with her slingshot not knowing he will become an important ally. Caius is a Christian. Rabba, Judith and Baratha are Jews.

Running alongside the story of Judith, her grandmother Sawtha Rabba and little sister Baratha is the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Mary is not "just a girl".  Rabba knew Mary, known as Maryiam, as child in Jerusalem. As she recounts stories of childhood we gain a different view of this famous woman Mary, mother of Jesus, beyond the story of the famous birth in a stable.

One real strength of this story comes from the vivid way Jackie French creates each scene. Here is an example where Judith is attacked in the wadi by wolves.

"I sat up and saw the flash of red eyes peering through the cave's opening, glinting in the dim firelight. ... A black shape slinked across the cave .. A second wolf leaped over me in a foetid reek of fur and urine. I felt its fur brush my face."

Here is a brilliant set of teaching notes from Robyn Sheahan-Bright. You can also find a list of further reading including an extensive list of web sites. Here is a detailed review. I will make an early prediction that this book - Just a Girl - will be short listed for our CBCA awards in 2019 in the Older Readers category.

One of the first books I ever read by Jackie French was Tajore Arkle. I still count it among my most favourite books. In my mind there is a strong connection between this earlier book from 1999 and this new title Just a Girl. I do hope the publishers might consider reprinting Tajore Arkle. Here is a review of Tajor Arkle.