~Saturday Stories~
Typical Jessie: I guess my life was crazy even before the day it really lost its mind. I just didn’t think it was. I did think my friend Chelsea’s life was a little weird. Her parents had been married to each other for twenty years and her family sat down at the table to eat supper together every night... I definitely considered my friend Marcus’s life to be strange. His family went on a two-week vacation every single summer to places like Key West and the Grand Canyon... Totally off the wall.
When Jessie's mom is sent to the hospital for gulping down a bunch of pills, Jessie is left with her dad. Who she had thought was dead. Her plan is simple: drive him nuts until he sends her back home. Except it might be nicer in some ways in Florida: like motorcycles, the beach and a book that she can actually read. Can there really be a relief from the hamster wheel in her head? Can she just be herself, without always covering up the fact that she has ADHD?
Like most of Nancy Rue's books, Motorcycles, Sushi and One Strange Book is awesome. I love how Jessie changes from the I-have-to-hide-this girl to someone who more or less embraces herself as she is. RL-the book that she found herself reading despite her disability- is basically a modern-day paraphrase of the Bible. It can mysteriously be clear when it's time to read and blur when the reading is enough for the day. Although a book like that isn’t really out there, Nancy Rue does show us that parts of the Bible can stand out to us too.
This is the first of the Real Life series for teens. The others are Boyfriends, Burritos and an Ocean of Trouble, Tournaments, Cocoa and One Wrong Move and Limos, Lattes, and My Life on the Fringe. They can all be read as stand-alones since the only thread is the RL book that they find when they need it and leave for someone else to find.
For more on Nancy Rue, visit her website, Facebook page, and blogs for tweens, teens and new adults.
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