Has potential, but not a fan of the writing style

I love the concept of this book. It’s a good historical fiction story. It’s interesting to learn about another country and culture, and it’s interesting to see what people had to endure during this time period. However, I can’t really get into the story because of the writing style. I feel like colons and semi colons are used too frequently. This also seems like it’s written to sound like you’re listening to a young child, since it’s written in first person from an 8 year old’s point of view, but the story ends up rambling. It jumps from one thing to the next, telling stories that don’t have much point. I can understand if some of this is to setup background and introduce the characters, but it detracts from what’s currently happening. The little stories should be spread throughout more.