GirlChild - Tupelo Hassman

GirlChild by Tupelo Hassman
Rory lives at The Calle de los Flores, a Reno Trailer park with her mother. While Rory knows what people think of her family and her future options or lack there of, she still dreams, including becoming a girlscout. She's read the handbook guide backwords and forwards since elementary. The story follows Rory through her adolescent years. The adults around Rory do not know what to make of her, girls who live trailer parks should not be so smart. Hassman's writing and Rory captured my heart. There's a beauty and honesty to both that I loved. Hassman's style has a beauitful rhythmic freestyle musical quality to it. At times my heart broke for what Rory had to experience, at other times I laughed at her funny depth description of living in a trailer park. I never thought of myself as a girl scout type of girl but it Rory was troop leader I'd take the girl scout pledge with a quickness. This is a ridiculosuly good debut and hands down one of the best of the year. And what I wrote doesn't do the story justice but its well worth checking out, especially for fans 2011 National Book Award winning novel, Salvage the Bones by Ward

An excerpt
NYT Review
Kirkus Review
Starred Publishers Weekly review