This Journal Belongs to Ratchet

Title: This Journal Belongs to Ratchet

 

Author: Nancy J. Cavanaugh

 

Summary: 11 year old Rachel "Ratchet" (a nickname earned from fixing cars with her father) is a homeschooled girl who moves from town to town fixing up homes with her father in exchange for free rent. Her father is a bit eccentric and unusual, and because she is homeschooled and is often helping her father fix cars, she does not get out enough to make friends - not that anyone seems interested in being friends with her anyway.

As Ratchet spends time alone in the house after working on school and cars with her father, she always can't help but notice a special box that moves with them wherever they go yet it is never opened. Ratchet suspects that the box contains information about her mother - her mother that died when she was too young to remember her well.

The book details Ratchet's life as she learns to work with others to save an important park and as she navigates through finding true friends, being different, and discovering secrets about her past.

 

Comments: I enjoyed this book. It is written through Ratchet's school work in English/Language Arts class. She is homeschooled so she just writes whatever the lesson guide says to write (essay, poem, etc.), and she always makes her life and what is going on as the subject. I think that this was a very creative way to write the book.

Ratchet was not stereotyped like some homeschooled characters in books. She had a great personality, she wanted friends, and when she did talk to people, she obviously had good social skills. However, she did seem a little secluded from the world for my taste, but it wasn't too bad.

Ratchet was likeable and any reader will find themselves cheering for her. I would recommend this book to children 10+. There really isn't much iffy content, except some boy-girl stuff, details on her mother's death and what happened before it, and just some other minor things.

 

Complaints: None.

 

Rating: 5 stars!