PRIZES to win! PROMOTIONS
Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep, another New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the ABBY award in 1996. She is also the author of The Pull of the Moon, Range of Motion, What We Keep and Until the Real Thing Comes Along which were all bestsellers in the United States. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.
Thirteen year old Katie has a lot to contend with beginning with her stern soldier father who rules his household with military discipline. Every time he is posted she must change house, school and friends but there is worse: her mother died when they lived in Texas. Fortunately Ginger, her stepmother, is a calm and cheerful person who seems to understand that Katie needs to be allowed to grow up. Berg speaks with adolescent Katie's voice relating , in short chapters, the dramas and joys of the young girl's life. When she describes the difficulties of babysitting three small boys and the problems Katie's friend, Cynthia, has with her cloying mother Berg can make the reader smile. Katie's first attempts at writing poetry are so funny they should be framed as should the letters she receives from her former best friend, Cherylanne. A morality tale in the best tradition of Little House on the Prairie. All too often however Berg is so anxious to write a comforting, homely story that she slithers into a puddle of syrup . Perfect for a Sunday School prize, this book is not for discerning grown ups. (Kirkus UK)
