From School Library Journal
Grade 7-10-Strong and quirky characters who see life as an inextricable mix of sadness and humor, sorrow and hope, are the hallmark of this memorable first novel. When 16-year-old Dulcie's beloved dad dies, she and her mom leave her granddad in Connecticut and drive to California to start over. This doesn't work for the still-grieving Dulcie so she takes their truck and drives home to pick up the pieces of her old life and remember her father in all the old places. Her road trip and memories of it, along with events that occur once she arrives home, provide the figurative journey that begins her healing. Rather than being a sad or solemn read, however, the treatment is unexpectedly offbeat and, at times, wonderfully funny. By including details of Dulcie's interesting stops along the way, including her experiences with a field of fainting goats, Acampora demonstrates a Joan Bauer-like knack for making ordinary life worth a second look. Teens will appreciate both the warm security that surrounds Dulcie and the hard truth that life can be painful.
-Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. "I was a John Jacob Jerome High School janitor like my dad," Dulcie explains in her droll, up-front manner, referring to her after-school job. "So far I'd lived to tell about it." Her father had not--dying suddenly after a freak encounter with toxic fumes. Now Dulcie's mother wants to escape their small Connecticut town, and whisks Dulcie away to California. Grieving for both her father and her old, comfortable life, the plucky teen borrows her mom's Chevy truck and drives back home to live and work with her grandfather, a janitor at the same school. During a transformative summer, she and her loving family--reconciled Mom included--rally to help another student janitor through a crisis of her own. Dulcie's deadpan wit, the quirky road-trip premise, and a cast of appealing adult and teen characters combine in this unusually strong first novel, which may remind some of Joan Bauer's
Rules of the Road (1998). Despite an unfortunate cover image, which depicts a girl who appears much younger than Dulcie's 16 years, many YAs will connect to an outwardly tough character who can nonetheless admit that sometimes she "feel[s] very breakable." An affecting, engaging family story, uniquely told through the janitor's lens.
Anne O'MalleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
