The book was very well written and it was very easy to care for the main character. Unfortunately I cared too much, and the book made me cry several times. Weezie is a child in a situation that happens all too often in real life - her mother has had some hard luck and resents Weezie's father, so it seems to be taken out on Weezie. She has a younger sister, Ruth Ann, that her mom lavishes attention on - taking her to the beauty shop to have her hair done and play with makeup, talking about entering her in beauty pageants, etc. Weezie never gets that sort of attention. If she decides to pick flowers for her mom and Ruth Ann helps a little, Ruth Ann gets thanked and hugged and then Weezie gets fussed at for something or ignored. Her little brother Jackson also gets attention and Weezie has to babysit them both while her mom is at work in the evenings. When she decides to track down the father she has never met, she finds out some surprising things about him, about her mom, about family in general.
It is a good book, but it just made me so sad and frustrated for all those kids out there living that kind of life. It was almost like reading an Oprah's Book Club pick for kids. Crying over the story reminded me of why I prefer fantasy rather than realistic fiction.
If you enjoy realism and want to see a young girl learning to stand up for herself, then you should read this story (but keep the tissues close by, just in case).
I read an e-galley provided by Amazon for review purposes.
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