Almost Home

Title: Almost Home

 

Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin

 

Summary: Leah Baer is a troubled young middle schooler. She has been moved around from household to household and parent to parent after her parents' divorce. At school, she meets a nice boy, and the two become friends. He encourages her to get involved with theater. Slowly, Leah makes her way through her problems.

Comments: I liked this book. Ruby on the Outside, one of Nora Raleigh Baskin's more recent works cannot be topped by any of her other books in my opinion, but her other available titles are still worth reading. (Though I suggest saving the best, Ruby on the Outside, for last :P)
This book is quick and short and there is one inappropriate word/scene in the book, so I would recommend the book for 10-12+.
There is not much for me to say about this book. It did not spark my interest or excitement as much as I had hoped that it would, and it did not leave me speechless and spellbound afterwards as some of my favorite books do. However, I do recommend it, because the book is by no means "bad" or "uninteresting", it just didn't spark my interest.

Rating 3 stars

What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows

Title: What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows

 

Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin

Summary: 12-year-old Gabby Weiss is just like any other middle school girl beginning to grow up. Gabby doesn't want to do that growing up without a mother, and she thinks that her father's girlfriend Cleo would make the perfect mother. Cleo thinks so too.
But then, one day, Cleo and her father break up. Gabby feels terribly alone, and feels as though Cleo, her once soon-to-be-stepmother has abandoned her. In her desperate search for a mother, Gabby goes about uncovering the mystery surrounding her real mother's death that is rarely talked about.

Comments: This book was okay. It was certainly a teen/tween book and probably most enjoyable and appropriate for a range between 10-13 years old.
Gabby is a good main character, but I didn't find her to be overly different or exciting. Her story was sad, and she was going through a lot of changes, and I would've liked her to just be a bit more vibrant.
 The mystery around her mother's death was interesting, but could be tragic or sad for young, less mature readers.
Overall, the book was, in my opinion, no where near as enjoyable as Ms. Baskin's Ruby on the Outside. However, for fans of that book, this book is similar in a very small sense, so I think that it is still worth reading. I definitely like Ms. Baskin's writing skills, but this book just doesn't have as much appeal as some of her other works.

Rating: 4 stars

Ruby on the Outside

Title: Ruby on the Outside:

Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin

 

Summary: It's the summer before middle school and 11-year-old Ruby is worried about starting 6th grade. She wants to make a true friend, and when she meets a girl, Margalit Tipps at her apartment complex's pool, she thinks she has found the one. The two become fast friends, but Ruby still can't tell her everything - she can't bring herself to tell anyone her deep secret.

Ruby's mother is in prison. She went to prison when Ruby was just about 5 and Ruby lives with her aunt, Matoo (Ma, too) and she visits her real mother once a week on Saturdays - and she will until she is 31 years old. Ruby has never told anyone this and as she gets closer to Margalit in friendship, she finds it hard not to.

However, just as Ruby gets up the courage to tell her, Ruby realizes that Margalit's family's past seems to cross with Ruby's mother's past.

 

Comments: I think this was a wonderful book. Margalit and Ruby were both very likeable. Poor Ruby had such stress on her at such a young age that the reader can't help but feel sorry for her. The conflicting thoughts going on in her mind about whether or not to truly love her mother or whether or not she wanted to see her seemed very realistic to me.

I thought that Margalit's and Ruby's crossing pasts was just such a huge coincidence.

This book was very light, despite the heavy subjects that were displayed in it. It feels like a less-dramatic and less mature version of the book All the Things You Are. (I have a review for that book on this site - it is very similar to this book in that both mothers are in jail - however, they are both very different too and I recommend both).

I would still rate this as a 10+ just because of the prison themes and the descriptions of how her mother got in prison. There are some mature themes, but they are dealt with in a child-appropriate way, unlike other books (Nest).

 

Complaints: None.

 

Rating: 5 stars!