Girls Books

this is the best book i ever read, even though it has the part about the icky racoon!

There are already some very thorough reviews on this book, but I just had to share how much my 7 year old daughter and I loved this book. Our cat was a rescued feral kitten, so this is an issue close to our hearts. This book does a great job of talking in language my 7 year old could understand, yet I never felt like the issues were "dumbed" down for kids. I look forward to reading more of Anderson's books.

Eleven-year-old star student, Sunita Patel, has longed to share her home with a cat for as long as she can remember. She wants nothing more than to wake up to a furry friend every morning, and bask in the sound of a feline purring. But, alas, her mother, Dr. Patel, refuses to make Sunita's dreams come true. An orthopedist, Dr. Patel is frightened of cats, and doesn't want to share a home with one. Luckily, Sunita receives her fill of feline love by volunteering at Dr. Mac's Place - a veterinary clinic that treats animals of all shapes and sizes. At Dr. Mac's Place, Sunita works alongside four other animal-obsessed friends - Brenna, Maggie, David, and Zoe. While each and every day at Dr. Mac's Place is full of laughter and tears, Sunita finds herself more attached to the case at hand, than any other previous cases she has seen in the past. When Dr. Mac's cat, Socrates, disappears after a cat fight, the vet volunteers begin a search to locate the beloved orange boy, only to stumble upon a place called Cat Land. Cat Land is located in a wooded area of a local neighborhood, where cats of all walks of life have taken up residence in an abandoned boxcar. Noted as a feral cat colony, Sunita is convinced that, with a little love and attention, these cats can live healthy, happy lives in homes with humans. But Cat Land is in danger. Local residents have become fed up with the overpopulation of wild cats, and are frightened of the oft-times aloof creatures. So, taking matters into their own hands, they contact Animal Control, and plan on having each and every one of the animals captured and destroyed. Sunita is devastated to learn this news, and is determined to find justice for these felines. Putting her head together with Dr. Mac, the two come up with a plan to use a widely-effective program called TVSR - Treat, Vaccinate, Spay, and Release. Sunita is thrilled to have the chance to help these homeless animals. But before the program is even well underway, tragedy strikes when Sunita attempts to tame one of the wild cats, and ends up in the hospital. With Sunita sick, she believes that the cats are destined for tragedy, unless she can convince her parents, as well as her neighbors, to have a little compassion, and save these cats before it's too late.

As an animal lover, I have found myself absolutely falling in love with Laure Halse Anderson's VET VOLUNTEERS series. And, after reading FIGHT FOR LIFE, I decided that Sunita was certainly my favorite character out of each of the five volunteers. So I was thrilled to learn that HOMELESS was predominately about her. Anderson has painted a more in-depth picture of Sunita within HOMELESS. While, in FIGHT FOR LIFE, we learned a bit about her character; in this installment, readers have the opportunity to get inside her head, so to speak. We have the chance to see what an intelligent, smart individual she is; and get a close up view of her compassion and determination. The fact that Anderson gives us the opportunity to learn more about Sunita's family life, and learn why she is so crazy about cats only adds to the story. As with FIGHT FOR LIFE, Anderson has targeted a very important issue surrounding animals today: pet overpopulation. However, she also provides readers with facts about feral cats, and gives us the chance to learn more about programs that are being used throughout the country to help feral cats survive and thrive in the wild, without producing more offspring. Anderson continues to shed light on serious issues regarding animals that many authors are too intimidated to touch. And, by providing this information within such an interesting, fun series of books, she gives readers the chance to want to make a difference in the world for animals today, and gives us the information we need to be pro-active in society. The article she provides at the end of the story - told in Dr. J.J. Mackenzie's voice - is interesting, and sheds some light on what cats mean when they purr, knead, and so much more. This article is a fun addition to the tale, and provides an interesting conclusion to the story. A sequel that leaves you purring.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

When Sunita finds a group of cats in a neighbborhood, she becomes determined to domesticate them, despite warnings that these cats are not domestic cats but feral cats--cats that have been allowed to grow wild and of which have come into contact with very few humans. Sunita convinces Dr. Mac of the Wild at Heart Clinic to take the cats to fix them, give them shots, and check them for illnesses, since the alternative is that the Animal Control people come and take them and euthanize them. But Sunita learns, finally that you can't domesticate a feral cat after she gets bitten and has to undergo rabies shots herself. But trouble comes when her plan to send the treated cats back to the wild backfires. The nieghbors don't want the cats at all--even if they have been treated so they cannot breed or carry rabies. Was Sunita's plan in vain? Another good book in the Wild At Heart series. I thought that this one was better than the first one.

I think this was one out of the series that was one of the most exciting books. It's about Maggie's friend, Sunita Patel. Sunita loves cats. She works as a vet volunteer at Dr. Mac's clinic. One day Sunita and her friends are walking home from school and they come across an open field with a ton of cats walking around. One of the cats are feral and hurt. They take him to Dr. Mac. The only trouble is, the two kids that were feeding the cats before Sunita got here is that their mother is raving mad about the kids being around feral cats. Sunita must persuade the kids mom that not all cats are bad. Will Sunita change her mind after she is bitten by one? Find out in Homeless.

No one knows it more than Isabel Campion that life is not very thrilling for a young girl living in London, England in 1592. Leaving her frustrations at home, she finally decides to make her own adventure, even though she knows it's risky. However, taking that risk just might be the beginning of the change of pace she was looking for. Her dreams just might be in reach.

The author did an excellent job of incorporating just enough facts about the time period, and about their daily lifestyle, that the entire story seemed very realistic.

I loved everything about the book and I would read it again in a heartbeat!

Isabel Taking Wing is really enjoyable because it is about
a girl in the 1700's. My opinion is that it's really good if you like historical fiction. It's really good to read from beginning to the end.

Isabel: Taking Wing is a VERY good book. It tells about her life as a twelve-year-old in England in 1592. She becomes friends with Meg, a servant girl. But when she an Meg go to a theater alone, they end up staying too long, and they steal a boat that almost sinks. When Isabel returns home very late, her strict aunt tells her father what she's done, and she's sent away to her Aunt de Vere's country estate. When she finally returns home, her father forgives her after she saves her baby sister from dying. The only bad part in this book is when Meg dies from the plauge. This is a fantastic book.

This book provides for the reader a very accurate and correct description of England in the year 1592 while still providing and interesting read for a variety of age groups. Let's look at this book from the point in which you might want to read it and the different points of view of different people.

If you wanted to read this book for information on the culture of England during the year 1592 there are several specific details which may be of special interest to you. First of all, the whole book, especially in the Then and Now part, have accurate descriptions of the clothing that was worn by women and girls in this time period. You learn about the different layers of their clothing and how clothes were used as a symbol of wealth and priveleage. You also learn of the accesorie called a pomander, which was important as it was supposed to ward off dieases such as plague. You also learn a bit about the hierarchy of birds and plays in that time. There are also hints about a women's place in society at the time.

If your purpose in reading this book was to learn about plauge, you also have several important details. In the book, especially at the end, you can find the symptoms of plauge. These may not be written out and palced in a list so to speak, but if you look for them and are good at inferencing, you will easily find them. Also, in the Then and now Section, you find about the attempts made my doctors in those times to ward of plauge. You also find out about how plauge spread, when it happened, and what families did if plauge hit them.

Of course, for many people, the reason they read this book was just to find an interesting book to read, and this book had details for them too. There are good descriptions in the book. Also, there are some parts in the story that are not necesseraly important to the overall plot, but form interesting, small sub-plots of their own, that make the book interesting and fun to read all around, although people who were reading this for specific information might have found those parts annoying. Many girls can connect to Isabel and her feelings, which are ones that we most likely have all experianced during our lives. Most of us can also probably imagine how it would be in this situation and if not you'd still might feel a bit saddened at first for Isabel.

This book is also very well written. The desciptions are very colorful and entertaing but they still give us insight on life in 1592 England. The parts that are funny, entertaining, and don't completely relate to the overall plot do not take over the book as in some other novels that I can metion but would prefer not to. The grammer is also very correct and the sentence starters vary, thus keeping the book from being dull.

In conclusion, this book is very informative, while still being interesting and entertaining. We can probably relate to it and it is extremely well written. I reccommend this to anyone of any age no matter what your reason for reading is.

The year is 1592, and twelve-year-old Isabel Campion is living under the strict rule of her Aunt Elinor in an upper-class neighborhood located in London. Isabel, unlike other 12-year-olds, wants nothing more than to escape the "conformist" society she is forced to grow up in. She doesn't want to spend her days cleaning stains out of shirts, or learning how to sew perfectly; but rather longs to explore the world, and become an actor like the boys she sees perform at the playhouse. Unfortunately, that's another thing Isabel is unable to do. Perform. For girls are not actors, and even the roles of females are played by males. When Isabel is sent to her Aunt de Vere's home, she becomes lost, and joins a group of boys who accept her as one of their own, and allow her to become an actor like them. But maybe acting isn't what Isabel was after all. Maybe there's nothing in the world that is perfect for her.

As a fan of the GIRLS OF MANY LANDS series, as well as sixteenth-century London, I found that ISABEL: TAKING WING was a perfect addition to the collection. Isabel is a spirited young girl, who is brave, and kindhearted, and will easily keep readers enthralled from the first page to the very last. Filled with many informational tidbits regarding sixteenth-century life, as well as information about London-born girls of today, Annie Dalton's effort will be cherished.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

My daughter has been enjoying this book. She gets me involved and also had a great time sharing it with her BFF when they had a sleepover! They learn alot about themselves and it's fun!

bought this for my 13 year old daughter for Christmas and she loved it. tends to prefer the high tech toys (e.g. ipod, DVDs) but this was good old-fashioned fun. Plus it was interactive.

If my granddaughter's (age 13) face of joy and her attachment to the book are measurement of the rating for this book, then the book rates 5 stars. The first day she had the book, she worked about 1/3 of the exercises asking everybody in sight to answer the questions. And, we enjoyed participating in the exercises. Great book for young girls.

This is, like, the best book I ever quizzed in. I this Klutz did the best job on this book! I'm so glad I have the book! I got it at my school book fair and fell in love with it (even though it's just a book) at first sight.

I gave this to my 11 year old niece for Christmas and she absolutely loved it!! She went around asking everyone in the family the quizzes. It's colorful, bright and interesting art designs really grabs their attention. I would definitely buy this again for girls aged 10-13.

Lessons from a Dead Girl is a suspenseful story that kept me on edge the whole time. I never felt relaxed even after the last page was turned, and the book was tucked away on my shelf. It shows how kids that are abused at a young age can turn around and abuse other kids. The main character, Laine, has to go through her life wondering if she's as messed up as she feels. All because her best friend, Leah, abused her at a young age and continued to do so through-out high school. This isn't a happy read at all. Although there are some glimpses of Laine having moments where I thought she would pull through; these moments are usually ruined by the Leah.

This is a very emotional story that sucks you in and doesn't let you go. My heart ached for Laine's situation. I also felt anger towards Leah, even though her story is just as heart breaking as Laines. This is a great read, and I can't wait to see what Jo Knowles turns out next.

Having read the first chapter of LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL before it was published as one of the panel of judges of the PEN New England Discovery Contest (which the book won!), I knew it was well-written. What I didn't expect when I sat down to read the entire novel in its published form was that it would be a page-turner. I started reading and couldn't stop.

Jo Knowles has done the near impossible: written a novel with a gripping, fast-paced storyline, well-developed characters, important themes, and finally a surprising, yet satisfying ending.

I look forward to reading Jo's next novel. She is a writer to watch!

This is a beautifully written book. At first I was hit by pure emotion, but then I couldn't stop thinking about Laine's story. Sure to be thought-provoking, this is a great choice for any discussion group, but especially for teens.

This story is profound and touching, the main character grabs you by the collar and pulls you into her world, and shows you every part of her emotional thought process through her experiences.

This is another fast read that made me want to keep turning the pages, even when I found myself right there with Laine embarrassed and wanting to look away.

Laine hated her, and wished many times that Leah would die and leave her alone. She didn't understand Leah, or why Leah chose her to be her best friend all those years ago. She didn't understand the things that Leah did to her in the doll closet, or why Leah would torment her with that knowledge and the shame that Laine felt. As they grew older, she didn't understand the problems that Leah faced, or the impact that they had on her behavior. As their English teacher told them once, you only hate what you don't understand.

Now that Leah Greene has died, Laine forces herself to try to understand Leah, and the things that Leah taught her about friendship and secrets. Friends are forever, Leah told her. Permanent just like the ink that Leah used to stake her claim on Laine's hand back when they were young. Laine must now face the impact of what "forever" really means, and how it has affected her own aspects of the world.

Jo Knowles has penned a stunning book that takes an introspective look at the scars of childhood abuse at the hands of a child's peers. Laine's experiences will have a profound impact on anyone who has ever wondered about the dynamics of child sociology, and how the damaging effects of abuse resonate from the original victims. For the mature young adult.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

This is an amazing book. The author's imaginative powers are on a
par with those of great Fantasy and Science Fiction writers
like Ursula K. Le Guin. James lets us enter a world that exists
nowhere, is quite alien to us, yet is filled with exquisitely
vibrant details. An especially enjoyable aspect of this book is its
magical and mystical undercurrent.

I was as enthralled by the exquisite prose and poetry of this book as I was by the plot, which asks no less of the reader than to explore the meaning and mystery of life and our contribution to it. The author created rich and diverse cultures and languages, leading this reader to examine the serious issues of tolerance and intolerance, especially in these troubled times. This was not a "peaceful" book and there are no easy answers to difficult questions and dilemmas. There is mayhem galore. Yet music weaves it way throughout the story and will have its way. Ms. James' use of the English language was so rich and varied that I did not see how she could possibly maintain such a high standard throughout an entire book; yet, with each turn of the page, there it was! This book is categorized as an "adolescent novel"; however, I am a mature woman who appreciated the "adultness" of this book about the quests of a young woman.

Ever since Kat was a young girl, she has been considered an outcast because of her forbidden parentage: her father is a Leagueman from Upslope and her mother is a Hill woman from Creek. Leaguemen are supposed to lead religiously simple lives while being wealthy traders, not marry natives. After her mother dies, Kat is sent to live with her strict aunt and uncle to learn the ways of being a Leagueman's wife. Kat is often met with disapproval because of her wild red hair, a reminder of her native mother. When Kat is 10, she returns home to her father Ab Drem, along with her caring, older brother Dai, who prefers living the simple life as a farmer instead of working with sums. It is during this time that Kat becomes curious about the songs of the Rigi, a legendary island tribe rumored once to have been seals.

After a fateful visit to the market in the seaside community of Downshore, Kat hears a song about the Rigi that she secretly sings to herself as she completes her daily chores. A few years later, when Kat is 15, she dares to sing the song out loud --- calling a young man out of the sea. He is an outcast as well; "killed" by his father and his tribe, he has no identity because his sealskin was destroyed as part of his exile. The Rigi is now named Nall. Kat frequently visits Nall after he is taken by Dai to live with Mailin, an elderly healer in Downshore. As Kat falls in love with Nall, her happiness is cut short when she discovers that her father has agreed to have his daughter be married off to the chief Leagueman's youngest son. Furious, Kat decides to run away from Upslope and live with her mother's family in the mountains.

Kat is considered an outcast there as well, but in comparison has a better life than in Upslope. A year later, she decides it's time to return to Upslope, Dai, her Downshore friends, and Nall. However, many things have changed, and Downshore and Upslope are now at war. Then Dai is taken prisoner and Kat decides that the only way to save him is to travel with Nall to the Gate. Kat soon begins to realize just how very different she is from Nall and yet how much they have in common. They are led on a fantastic, unimaginable adventure that will have far-reaching consequences for each of their contrasting worlds.

LISTENING AT THE GATE is a powerful saga about family, love and knowledge, and how --- like a tumultuous ocean --- each be changed in a single moment. Throughout the novel there are songs and folklore that reflect each of Kat's and Nall's changing worlds, which I found to be a creative idea and a great part of the story. While LISTENING AT THE GATE is a sequel to Betsy James's previous books, LONG NIGHT DANCE and DARK HEART, I found it to be just as memorable and well written as a stand-alone novel.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle (SdarksideG@aol.com)

Betsy James is a heck of a writer. This is an unputdownable book with great depth, a young adult book that reverberates on an adult level, and more - down to your toenails, as far as you want to take it. Each book in the series is kicked up a big notch. I had read the two previous books several years ago and read them again before the third came out, and I was still unprepared for "Listening at the Gate". It's a BIG BOOK - big in scope, big in ambition, big in imagination, big in emotional presence. No light snack - you better have an appetite!

I ran across a quote from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes recently that came to mind as I read the book: "A mind stretched by a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions." Nominally written for the young adult woman as a coming of age novel, it challenged me as a 58-year-old man and made me nervously, and excitedly, wonder how far I fall short of what I could possibly be. It is a potentially life-changing book, for an adolescent girl or young woman, or for an adult man or woman. I can't help but think that some adolescent girls and young women who have the courage to take it in will be bigger people as adults, more alive, more courageous, more aware. Some may be transformed for life, in their hearts and souls, not just their minds. The bar's a little higher even for me, and I'll reach a little farther.

One of the fascinating things about the book and the trilogy as a whole is that it creates a whole world of the imagination, peopled not just by a wide range of personalities, but by several whole and separate cultures in conflict with each other, thereby establishing the creative tension that makes the book so enthralling. The only thing I can think of to compare it with is William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. The range of creative imagination in the book is amazing. Each culture comes full-blown with its own mythology, songs, and prejudices.

Weaving the book together throughout are dozens of poems, chants and songs that would stand alone as a wonderful book of poetry.
The book is a literary achievement, and a damn fun read, exciting as "The Da Vinci Code" but emotionally deeper and more real!

It's been a long wait for the third in the Seekers Chronicles, but worth the waiting and wondering. Listening at the Gate is a dense, chewy, odd-tasting at times experience of Kat's coming of age through a journey that tightropes over several cultures.
The sounds and scents of the warrenhouses, living and abandoned; the different ways of talking to and looking at each other that each distinct village allows its tribemembers; the bringing into present day a land and people of myth and misunderstanding, all caught and wrapped me up in a story whose end I couldn't guess. I loved the richness of this book, it has an honored place on my bookshelf.
And the Roadsouls made me wish that such a life was still possible.

I learned alot from this book. There was way more information on nutrition that I expected, and it inspired me to start eating much healthier. It's helpful to read about the cold, hard numbers of the nutritional facts. The recipes are super easy, too! I have made four or five of them already, and they are very easy to make, easy to alter, and easy to improvise with. This book has many very helpful tips. I highly recommend it for any girl living on her own.

I gave this book to a friend at the holidays along with a "Jessie Steele Bib Carmen Black & White Hostess Apron" (very cute) that I also bought here on Amazon. My friend thought I bought both together as a set. The book and apron complimented each other very well.

What a great cookbook! I can't believe how easy the recipes are, not to mention the fact that they're delicious! I'm not much of a chef, but this book covers all the basics, and suddenly, hosting a dinner party no longer seems like such a daunting task. It's really fun to read, too...enjoy!

I bought this book because it is just incredibly cute and as a single professional woman I could always use single serving recipes. The book is fun to read and really informative, but even better is the quality of the recipes! I have made the bread pudding, pork loin with figs, fennel and apple salad and the scallops with leeks. All were fantastic, and I really was so satisfied. The recipes were simple to follow and did not require too many ingredients. I think what was most impressive was that the cooking times suggested were perfect! My pork and scallops could not have been cooked better. I love this book because I am in the process of learning to really be a good cook, and I love being able to experiment with smaller recipes! So many of the recipes in this book would really impress significant others, friends and family! You will not be disappointed!

So, I'm a bit over 20 something, a mother and wife, but I found this book fantastic! Humorous and educational, this book contains anecdotal information that I will make sure to pass along to my teen age daughter who's so not interested in a domestic career that I'm afraid pop-tarts and easy mac may be her aspiration to cooking!

The recipes are not only easy, but tasty and the descriptions precise. I'd recommend this book to anyone who's intimidated by the kitchen but really wants to start somewhere.

I love these books. I give them as gifts often. It is great for a night time devotional. It has a story and at the end of the story it has points to ponder on for the child and questions and comments for mom or dad to identify with and pass on personal experience we might have encountered that pertains to the story we just read! There is a mom/son book dad/daughter adn dad/son books too! but if the other parent reads the book, the questions can still apply-the book is not very limiting to just mom or dad!

LOVE THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK, ITS PERFECT FOR A MOM AND DAUGHTER BUT IF DAD READS ALSO THE LITTLE GIRLS ONE IS BETTER SINCE IT HAS BOTH MOM AND DAD SECTIONS. MY DAUGHTERS LIKE TO READ IT TO EACHOTHER. IT HAS "STORIES" THAT ARE A PERFECT LENGHT FOR BED TIME WITH DISCUSION QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO DO WITH YOUR DAUGHTER ALSO!

I was looking more for a devotional for my daughter and I.This book isnt really what I wanted,not to say that it is bad,just not what I was really looking for.

My Grandaughter is Daily reading this Girls Bible.
The storys are Inspiring Her to a Higher Level of Reading and idelic Life.
Thank You Amazon for Having This Great Value.
Grover

Excellent book. Both my girls (ages 4 and 7) look forward to sitting down and reading a story from this book before bed. It also gets us talking about lots of girl things or things happening at school. They liked it so well that we bought the father/daughter book for dad for father's day. Also bought a book for my sister and her 3 year old daughter.

This book was really good. It's a true diary from a girl, named Katie, who has to move to Paris with her family leaving her 4 best friends at home in Canada. The book starts by telling you that the girl that wrote this diary died suddenly in Paris, from a fast moving cancer. So, her mom was reading her diary and letters, while on the plane flying back to Canada, and decided it would be neat to make a book of her writings. The book really shows you through the life of a teenage girl. She loves to hang out with her older sister Christelle. And she loves her friends all SO much.

This is a very good book I would recommend it to anyone looking for a interesting book to read!

This was the best book I have ever read!!! LITERALLY I love this book and although it's sad, I'm so glad that Katie's mother let Julie publish it. This is truely an insperation to me and some of the friends that I have! I read this story to a friedns and a cousin and although my cousin is young she really enjoyed it. This book should a a Nobel Prize because it helped me to realize that friendship is really important to have with you and to help you through the rough and hard times. So I honestly know tat you will like this story because if I did then I know other people of my age and the backround I come from will really relate to some of the things that Katie was going through.

AFter I read this book I relized how much you need to savor your life and what friendship really means!Its really touching and will keep you reading until you finish this book!

From page one I became enthralled with the charactors of this book. Amazingly enough is the fact that these are not charactors but real people. It is the true story of a girl's last moments dialogued in her emails and letters to her friends. It reminded me alot of myself and my friends. I feel that many will identify with Katie. This book is a reminder to all that life can change in an instant and we must cherish those that are placed in our lives!

This is a wonderful book about friendship. A girl named Katie goes with her family to live in Paris for a year, but was going to return to Canada to graduate grade 12 with her friends. Katie and her friends; Ashley(who was her best friend), Maude and Heather kept in touch often through letters, e-mail or sometimes the phone. Katie always ended her letters with Ilove you, or Love you like a sister.(LYLAS) Ashley and Katie had just arranged for Ashley to visit w/ Katie, but then ... THIS BOOK ROCKED!!!

Making the Run is the best fiction book you could ever read. The characters are really memorable. They are their own person. They don't try to be someone they're not. They do their own thing and they don't care what other pepole think.
While living in Rainey, Lu has it rough. She lives with a single parent who's hardly home and never there for her when she needs them. She has had a dream of doing something she loves doing and then one night that all changes. Then she falls for someone that she has known since she was little.
This book just sounds so real. Once you start reading it, you won't be able to put it down. The more you keep reading on, the more it keeps you guessing and wanting to know what happens next. I think it's one of those books that would keep you guessing and wanting to know what happens next.
I would suggest this book to anyone who is having a hard time in their life. I loved this book so much. Out of most of the books that I have read, I wouls have to say this one was one of the best. This book reminds me of someone I'm really close to. My friend is pretty much going through things that Lu is going through.

In the book Making the Run author and first time novelist Henson shows a dramtic very different girl Lu. Lu lost her mother when she was little and witnessed the whole thing. Since then shes hated her father.Lu although somewhat messed up keeps her self busy with the help of her best friend Ginny and having her first real love,Jay, her older brothers band member. Lu has to deal with Ginny getting pregnant and her dad dating.Emotions start to going crazy and Lu always seems to be floating (from the drugs) a horrible tradgey tends to change Lu's life forever. Henson was writing this book to show that drugs may not always be the way to go. I recommend this book to teens mostly because it teachs you the way life is.

In this book there is a girl, Lu that doesn't exactly know how how to deal with life. With drinking,drugs,and sex she becomes caught up in a crazy world where she's constantly floating not really knowing anything except for one thing she wants to get out of Rainey, the small town shes stuck in, but when she find news about her best friend Ginny things start to change. After a horrible tradgedy, will she stay or leave....

Lulu or " Crazy Lu" is desperate to get out of a small town in Kentucky but is weeks away from graduation. She drowns out her sorrow through drugs, sex, and pictures. She has a keen eye for photography and is constantly wearing her camera around her neck, even when it's dark. When her stepbrother's old friend comes back, she falls in love. When her relationship becomes steamy, her brother and father disagree it results into abuse. At first she experiments with drugs with her best friend Ginny, then it becomes a daily ritual. Smoke. School. Smoke. Grams. Smoke. Jay's. Smoke. Drink. Bed. Making the run was a clever, enlightening, and truthful story.

I've read this book multiple times. It not sounds just like the typical life of a teenager, but it's kind of scary how close in personality the main character is to me. I've even gotten to the point where i'm underlining thing's she's said in awe that they are some of the same things i've said to other or even just myself at times. If you're my age, which is 16, soon to be 17, you'll love this book. If you're 20, you'll love this book, anyone will love this book because it's about a young girl who discovers herself, and we all have either gone through that, or are still going through that and because of that, everyone can relate.

(Rated 3.5 stars rounded up to 4) Modern ranch living, as portrayed in this novel, takes place in an ageing gated community on the outskirts of Tucson, where the Code of the West has been replaced by a carping, adolescent irritability. Empty and desolate lives in the air conditioned, pool-in-the-backyard suburbs is not exactly a new theme to literature, and Poirier's effort to give them a postmodern twist labors manfully to rise above the conventions of the genre. Larry McMurtry's endorsement on the back cover notwithstanding, the dark humor of the book is not especially original or funny. The day-per-chapter structure slows down the narrative to a pace that often seems plodding, while the exchange of insults among characters who are quick to find fault with each other becomes repetitive and occasionally tiresome.

The central characters, a sixteen-year-old teenager obsessed with body image, health foods, and a punishing exercise regimen, and a thirty-year-old college drop out living at home with his emotionally unstable mother while managing a water park, remain sympathetic and exhibit an embattled kind of integrity in a world of "losers" and "jerks," and they are eventually rewarded for their uncompromised truth to themselves. The single plot strand that holds the narrative together (the disappearance of a boy from the neighborhood) yields not a very plausible resolution, and for the novel's leisurely pace, it raises questions that it never answers - like, what is the meaning of the purloined collection of athletic gear under the porch?

Recommended for readers whose youthful memories of the suburbs are similarly jaundiced. Just about everybody gets their licks from high school counselors to rude drivers, college creative writers, junkies of all kinds (fast food, meth, magic markers), high achievers who end up in corporate cubicles, and people who don't know which way is west.

I couldn't put this book down. The characters are hilarious and well thought out. Kendra's grammar had me laughing out loud constantly. Every character has their own original quirkyness that tends to tie them all together perfectly. I after reading the description of this book, I didn't think I'd enjoy the book as much as I did. This was my first Poirier and certainly not my last.

I wish the entire book was as captivating as the last chapter, which I thought was by far the best and most satisfying. I found myself, as one other reviewer here put it, feeling "close" to the two main characters. I laughed out loud several times reading this book, maybe the first time I've actually done that while reading. I felt strange because I used to see my father do that when he read and thought, how wierd. But now I understand.

This book reminded me somewhat of a Coen Brothers movie, the way it sort of weaves through a broad range of topics, none too bizarre for Poirier to delve head-first into, and it leaves you shocked and wide-eyed at parts.

The characters are highly-likeable, though I didn't find Kendra too likeable up until the last few chapters of the book; I guess when she "matures" somewhat. To me her character is, in some ways, a stark contrast to the other characters in the book: unrealistic. Perhaps if Poirier had made her a bit older than 16, it would be more plausable to hear about the way she seems to dominate her mother and brother, supposedly has a super-defined, fitness-america-muscle-woman body, and seems to be mentally more strong and capable than any young person in the real world. Not to mention the fact this girl supposedly used to have sex with a gangster kid behind a bagel shop in the bushes. She also has no problem killing a wounded bird by smashing it's head with her foot. I found these things to be VERY outside of the character I was picturing in my head...very different from the character that I thought I was getting to know as I read the book, and it really threw me off.

But after all, it is a novel, and a superbly well-written one at that. I'm going to pick up Goats next, and then Naked Pueblo. Modern Ranch Living is one of the best fiction books that I've read in awhile. All in all it is a gripping and entertaining portrayal of American life and I couldn't seem to put it down.

This books possesses a wonderful cumulative effect, the kind accomplished by a level of subtlety that perhaps might baffle the less erudite reader. Well worth every penny I spent at the airport.

I have not laughed at anything written by a contemporary writer since George Saunders's story WINKY. Luckily, my sister gifted Modern Ranch Living to me, and I spent the last weekend with Mr. Poirier's book, laughing over and over. Even the most cynical taste out there will appreciate the humor here. Better than anything in McSweeney's, by the way.