Content: G
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
12o Fern loves her life with Dr. Ben and all of the others on The Ranch. When her mother sneaks away with her in the middle of the night, Fern is very confused. They’ve traveled for days and landed in Driftaway Beach, California, where Fern is surrounded by all of the toxic things of the world that Dr. Ben has always warned them about. As she tries to find a way back to what she considers to be home, she has much to learn - not just school stuff (which she totally does), but also about herself, her mother, and what real family and home look like.
O’Shaughnessy’s lovely book is the definition of bildungsroman - a young person goes from believing what others tell her about the world to a place where she now knows she doesn’t know everything and that trust needs to be earned. Powerful stuff that I devoured in an afternoon. The only reason I didn’t rate this ESSENTIAL is that it isn’t the romantic, or sports-centric, or action-packed, or spooky books that my students have been gravitating to on their own. The cover is uninspiring and confusing once you now the story, so you will probably need to spotlight and hand sell to the first students.
Fern and the other characters cue white.
Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS
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