Pavi Sharma’s Guide to Going Home — Review

Thought for the Day:

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of. ”
~ Joss Whedon ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

We all have incidental characters in our novels, but do we really need them? C. S. Lakin at Live Write Thrive has a terrific post HERE that will help you choose Incidental Characters That Make Your Novel Zing.

We all need a little help now and then with grammar. Writing Forward has a very useful post HERE with 10 Good Grammar Resources. You’re welcome.

Is there ever anything on Fiction University posts by Janice Hardy that isn’t worth your time? The post HERE, Oh, That’s Subtle: The Little Things Holding Your Novel Back, has great examples and much more to make you examine your manuscript. Don’t miss it.

I hope all of you are doing well and staying well. My family and I have been able to avoid this wicked illness so far. I got back to doing jigsaw puzzles this week. Isn’t that a pretty puzzle? It has really odd shapes and was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it’s awfully good mental exercise and, for me, very relaxing. I am still largely staying hunkered down and out of harm’s way, although I am planning on making a trip to the post office tomorrow. There is a small, country post office about 8 miles from my house. Whenever I have gone there, it has always been empty or nearly empty. I don’t feel like it will be too dangerous to go there. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. Those of you who have won books and have patiently waited, there is an end in sight. You should receive books fairly soon. On that note, I did promise one of you a gently-read ARC of Wink by Rob Harrell on last week’s post. The winner this week is Nancy. Congratulations, Nancy. I actually will get your book out to you soon. Thanks for visiting, commenting, and sharing my link on Facebook.

I want to tell you about a book this week that I donated to the school library back when schools were still open. And when I don’t have a book around, I tend to forget to get the review up on my blog. This should have been up a couple months ago, but you know my motto. “It’s never too late to review a good book.” So let me tell you about Pavi Sharma’s Guide to Going Home by Bridget Farr. It’s a terrific story. Here is the review I wrote for the Seattle Book Review.

Pavi Sharma has been in foster care for a while and also spent time in Crossroads, a group home for kids awaiting placement. She has learned a lot about the system and how foster kids can make it easier for themselves moving through. She teaches other kids how to make a good impression with the Front Door Face — puppy-dog eyes and a lemonade smile — and she researches the backgrounds of their families and schools to help them acclimate. She has quite a business going. When she visits Crossroads and discovers a sweet five-year-old about to be placed in the worst home Pavi had ever experienced, she pulls out all the stops to avert that. What could go wrong?

Author Bridget Farr seems to have a great deal of knowledge about the foster care system, although this book focuses on the better parts of it rather than on the really dark things that happen. The writing is crisp and the characters are fully developed and very engaging. One can’t help but cheer for Pavi and her small posse. This is a great introduction for middle-graders to the foster care system and will engender compassion for foster kids.

No giveaway this week. I donated my hardbound copy to the school library. But check back next week. I may have a giveaway then. And don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at the Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.