By Mary E. Lambert
4RBooks: 5/6, grades 6-8
Amazon rating: 4.5/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.13/5
Common Sense Media: not reviewed
245 pages
Synopsis:
Annabelle seems like the average middle school girl. She is a good student, has good friends, and is close to her younger sister (not as close to an older brother). But Annabelle has rules. The two most important, her room must be always perfectly neat and clean, and there is to be a five-mile radius of friends and relationships around her house. She doesn’t want anyone to see the condition of her home.
Annabelle’s mom is a hoarder, and their house is an organized mess. Because of this it’s rarely cleaned. Annabelle thinks she is handling things alright, but when her dad has finally had enough and leaves only to be followed by Grandma Nora moving in to help, she initially wants escape and run away from it all.
She begins to realize that she needs help, and she needs to help bringing her family back together before they are broken up for good.
Parental Guidance: medium+
At a sleepover for girls, one of them is dared to skinny dip in the pool and
she does.
Other than that, there is no bad language, violence, or inappropriate
scenes. The subject matter and its emotional toll on the characters (and the reader) make is a challenging read.
Recommendation:
Don’t be fooled by the cover and title, this is not a fun, funny, breeze of a read. This is an emotional and difficult story of the toll a hoarder has on their family. As Grandma Nora says, “everyone is broken,” and this tale details in subtle and not so subtle ways how every family member has been affected. I could recommend this book for adults without hesitation.
It is too intense (my opinion) for elementary children but would be fine for middle school (and high school) students. Sensitive children might find this too emotional (I found myself tearing up at the end). The skinny-dipping scene would make it a difficult book for a classroom read, but a small group of girls should find this an excellent book club read. School counselors might also find this useful with students to demonstrate how important it is to talk about your problems and feelings and not keep everything bottled inside.
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