My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Bright Shining Moment is about the story of a sixth grader Adeline Sauriol, or Aline to her family and acquaintances, who lives in Hittonburg, Ottawa. She was being bullied by one of her classmates, Jeanine, who is from Mechanicsville which is the poorest area in their village. And one of her wishes is to be able to contribute to the charity box in their class someday. However, their family isn't that wealthy also because they also need money for their daily expenses.
Then one day, Aline finally decided to steal a dime from her mother's purse, but when she came to school, the charity box was already gone. Aline and her cousin, Lucille, bought a 10-cent worth of candies instead of returning it to her mother. And one thing leads to another because her secrets and lies started to pile up.
I might have found Aline's story adorable such as how to frighten she was keeping her secrets, but in reality, it is not. Being bully is the biggest problem she encountered, and I like how the story addressed it and on how to handle it. Bullies are bullies because they have unsolved problems in their lives, or they are trying to hide the horrible or miserable situation they are in. Compassion and love is an effective way to solve bullying because revenge and violence will not resolve it, instead, it will become more serious in the long run. And that is what one of the lessons readers could acquire from reading this wonderful children's book. This is highly recommendable for middle graders, but young adults and older readers will undeniably adore reading Aline's story in this book.
