At her 13th-birthday dinner, Evyn’s hippie father, Birdie, drops a bomb. He is going to marry Eleni Gartos, a college professor with six children, and Evyn and her 15-year-old brother will be leaving their home in Maine and moving to Boston with him. Evyn feels that her world has collapsed. Feeling alone, the girl begins a dialogue with her dead mother as she imagines her. Evyn thrust into a large, vocal stepfamily while having to share her father with a woman she hardly knows and a house full of stepsiblings. Throughout her ups and downs, Birdie’s love remains constant, her stepsiblings are accepting, and her brother is transforming himself from a nerdy computer geek into a fledgling thespian. When her stepmother becomes pregnant, Evyn sets out to hop a bus to Maine. The beginnings of acceptance and possibilities are ignited as she learns to follow her inner “wise woman”—her mother’s advice-and to “bounce” with the changes in her life.
As someone who comes from a “Step-Family” situation, I could totally relate to Evyn. It’s hard to adjust to your family changing. This seemed “real” to me. Recommended. – Jessica, Teen Librarian
NBPL Teen Book Blog 