No. of pages 272
Published: 2013
By clicking here you can add this book to your favourites list. If it is in your School Library it will show up on your account page in colour and you'll be able to download it from there. If it isn't in your school library it will still show up but in grey - that will tell us that maybe it is a book we should add to your school library, and will also remind you to read it if you find it somewhere else!
Seventeen pounds. That's the difference between Abigail Walker and Kristen Gorzca. Between chubby and slim, between teased and taunting. Abby is fine with her body and sick of seventeen pounds making her miserable, so she speaks out against Kristen and her groupies--and becomes officially unpopular. Embracing her new status, Abby heads to an abandoned lot across the street and crosses an unfamiliar stream that leads her to a boy who's as different as they come.
Anders is homeschooled, and while he's worried that Abby's former friends are out to get her, he's even more worried about his dad, a war veteran home from Iraq who is dangerously disillusioned with life. But if his dad can finish his poem about the expedition of Lewis and Clark, if he can recapture the belief that there can be innocence in the world, maybe he will be okay. As Abby dives into the unexpected role as research assistant, she just as unexpectedly discovers that by helping someone else find hope in the world, there is plenty there for herself, as well.
This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.
There are 272 pages in this book. This book was published 2013 by Simon & Schuster .
Frances O Roark Dowell is the editor and co-founder of Dream/Girl, an arts magazine for girls and has been Poet in Residence at Duke University. She has had dozens of poems published in literary journals, and is the author of two previous children's novels, Dovey Coe and Where I'd Like to Be. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two sons.
This book has been nominated for the following award:
Young Hoosier Book Award
This book was recognised in the Intermediate category by the Young Hoosier Book Award.