Currently I am reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. For a break from the heaviness, I read this middle-grade novel.
Over the summer Mary Lou Finney must keep a journal and hand it in on the first day of school. Ms. Creech utilizes the journal format to structure the story. Even though Mary Lou's household with many siblings is chaotic and humorous, she longs for new events to record. Then unexpectantly, her cousin Carl Ray from West Virginia arrives to stay for the summer. Unusual events commence . . .an anonymous person bestowing Carl Ray $3,000, her best friend mooning over a boy, Alex Cheevy showing up in her neighborhood. This summer may be worth recording after all!
I liked how Ms.Creech incorporates Mary Lou's impressions of the Odyssey by Homer.
Apparently, this book is a prequel to Walk Two Moons.
Warnings: Mary Lou takes God's name in vain often. When her mother reproaches her about this habit and tells her to expand her vocabulary, Mary Lou looks up other words for God in the thesaurus and proceeds to use them (Alpha and Omega, King of Kings etc). Her cousins talk about sex a bit with her (no details, just mentions that they do) and then when Mary Lou leaves W.V., they give her book about sex, which Mary Lou claims is too advanced for her parents. A death occurs. Mary Lou begins dating Alex. They kiss a few times throughout the book.
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