Hope Is a Ferris Wheel

Ten-year-old Star Mackie enthusiastically founds the Trailer Park Club and even gets a person or two to join. When it fails, she starts a poetry club and discovers Emily Dickinson, whom she decides is like her big sister, who's attending "delinquent school." Herrera gives readers a front-row seat to all the embarrassment and angst of Star's jumbled life--and all of the triumphs

Ten-year-old Star Mackie has moved with her mother and older sister, Winter, from Oregon to northern California, where things are quite different. For one thing, Star is the only kid in school who lives in a trailer park. Then there's the matter of her hair. While Star prefers to think of it as a "layered cut," her classmates mock her mullet. Nevertheless, Star enthusiastically founds the Trailer Park Club and even gets a person or two to join. When this club fails, she starts a poetry club and discovers Emily Dickinson, whom she decides is a lot like her big sister, who's attending "delinquent school." Trailer parks and good-hearted families in poverty are a familiar trope of contemporary middle-grade fiction, and there's a lot going on here, including some coincidences and a whole lot of Ferris wheel metaphors. But Star's optimism and love for her warts-and-all family shine through, even when things get a bit desperate. First-time author Herrera, telling the story from Star's point of view, gives readers a front-row seat to all the embarrassment and angst of Star's jumbled life -- and all of the triumphs. Here's hoping we hear more from this author. robin l. smith