Ten-year-old Star Mackey is the only girl in her class that
lives in a trailer park, and she’s sure if she can show her new classmates that
living in a trailer park isn’t all that bad, she can make friends. But the kids
who show up to her ill-fated Trailer Park Club aren’t exactly who Star was
hoping to make friends with, until her club takes a different direction and
Star is introduced to Emily Dickinson’s poetry and the meaning of friendship
and hope.
Hope is a Ferris Wheel
is charming and heartfelt, written in Star’s clever and humorous voice. Through
weekly vocabulary lists, poetry, Star’s relationship with her teenage sister, and
various attempts at launching clubs at school, Herrera explores Star’s life and
her self-identity. Herrera handles the issue of poverty in Star’s story
particularly well. It’s not a tragic element or a reason for Star to doubt herself,
but a fact of life that illustrates how Star relates differently to her peers. Star
is particularly resourceful and thoughtful as she discovers her creative voice,
learns how hopes connect to dreams, and as she comes to terms with the
complicated fabric of her family life. This is a fantastic middle grade debut,
honest and entertaining.
Cover Comments: I love this cover--it's beautiful and bright and just has a lot of fun shapes and colors.
Book purchased from my local indie.
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