After his mother has been gone for a week, eleven-year-old Hank and his toddler sister Boo are forced to seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact. But with Lou Ann’s help comes social workers and a new school, and Hank worries he might have made a huge mistake.
I don’t read much middle grade nowadays, but I was intrigued by this book because I haven’t read any middle grade book dealing with foster care and parentification before. The author’s note about her own brother’s experiences only added more depth and meaning to the story that followed.
I was immediately sucked into the story of Hank, who feels that he must do everything to look after his sister Boo and has trouble trusting the new adults who have come into his life and try to take that responsibility away from him. I enjoyed reading about how Hank slowly starts to build a life for himself in his new home despite the unstable foundation it rests on. The search for his mother kept me engaged, as well as his dawning realization that his life with her was not really safe or normal.
However, I wish at times that we got a deeper glimpse into the lives of the others that Hank meets, especially his new friends at the school. We get some inkling of motivations for how they treat Hank as far as adults such as Ray and Lou Ann, but the way the kids immediately hang onto Hank and pull them into their circle, while endearing, felt somewhat unrealistic. I wished we’d seen more of how their friendships became stronger.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
