The perspective of this fascinating book alternates between Lauren, an upper-class kid going to a private Quaker school, and Sierra, a new foster kid who's foster parents are in Lauren's neighborhood. They're each missing something, though. Lauren has an autistic brother named Ryan who in preparation for college, has gone a boarding school, and Lauren feels like a piece of her heart is missing, and nothing can make it come back. Sierra has an addict dad in jail and an alcoholic mom, who's recently been sent to jail. She's now with loving foster parents in Lauren's neighborhood, and she goes to Lauren's school. They become great friends, sitting together at lunch, on the bus, and at school at Worship and Ministry Club. Their mission for the year is to get kids to focus on simplicity, which is where the trouble start. Lauren starts to see how her neighborhood is not simple, and decides to change that by selling things online and giving the money to Occupational Therapists, people who helped Ryan. However, she starts stealing stuff from stores and other people. Soon, she can't pass a single shiny thing without thinking about stealing it. A new Junior Library Guild Selection from authors Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison promises to challenge your moral sense of what is right and wrong. Get it at your local library or e-library today.
Every Shiny Thing
By Cordelia Jensen, Laurie Morrison
In this beautifully constructed middle-grade novel, told half in prose and half in verse, Lauren prides herself on being a good sister, and Sierra is used to taking care of her mom. When Lauren’s parents send her brother to a therapeutic boarding school for teens on the autism spectrum and Sierra moves to a foster home in Lauren’s wealthy neighborhood, both girls are lost until they find a deep bond with each other. But when Lauren recruits Sierra to help with a Robin Hood scheme to raise money for autistic kids who don’t have her family’s resources, Sierra has a lot to lose if the plan goes wrong. Lauren must learn that having good intentions isn’t all that matters when you battle injustice, and Sierra needs to realize that sometimes, the person you need to take care of is yourself.
Publisher: Amulet Paperbacks
ISBN-13: 9781419733772
ISBN-10: 141973377X
Published on 4/9/2019
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 368