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Eleven-year-old Violet Raines is happy with her life just the way it is. She spends most of her time next door at her best friend Lottie’s house and exploring the Florida swamps with her old pal Eddie. So when uppity city girl Melissa comes to town with her big-city ideas and introduces Lottie to pre-teen notions of boys, makeup and soap operas, Violet’s comfortable world begins to crumble.
As if puberty weren’t confusing enough, Lottie’s strange girly-girl behavior and the sudden realization that Eddie’s eyes are actually attractive scare spunky Violet more than she’s willing to admit, and Melissa becomes the brunt of her anger. But when lightning strikes and puts Lottie’s family on the verge of financial ruin, Violet focuses her energy where it’s most needed and proves she’s more grown-up than she thought. Even so, can Violet stop the inevitable, or is this the summer when everything changes?
In her debut book, author Danette Haworth’s work is strikingly comparable to that of the great Judy Blume. Similar in style to many of Blume’s popular middle-grade, pre-pubescent novels for girls, Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning is an accurate portrayal of a young girl’s struggle with the end of childhood and the rite of passage into womanhood. Everyone grows up eventually; why rush it?
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Niki Schoenfeldt/2008 for curled
up with a good kid's book |
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For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews,
visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)
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Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning