Returnable Girl [Hardcover]

Pamela Lowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2006

A young girl must choose between two mothers

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–Veronica Hautman is 13 and unsettled. Since her mother left two years ago, she has been in a succession of foster families, including an uncle and a religious but selfish aunt. Now she is living with a new foster mother, a child psychologist who is willing to tackle Ronnie's lying, stealing, and violent outbursts. Through diary entries, the girl relates her conflicted feelings toward, and sporadic long-distance interactions with, her mother; her growing love for and desire to be good for the first authority figure to care for her; and a complex peer environment. By creating a truly believable teenage narrative voice and a fully realized cast of characters, Lowell offers an engrossing, well-plotted, and impressive read. Each character, from Ronnie's depressed and self-destructive neighbor to the motorcycle-riding youth minister, struggles with very human challenges and plays a meaningful role in the girl's growth. Difficult issues–betrayal, depression, emotional abuse–are handled without melodrama or sensationalism. Ultimately, the novel celebrates the resilience of both teens and adults, the bonds formed in healing, and the journeys taken in finding and following one's heart. Readers will feel they have traveled the physical and emotional distance with Ronnie, and will find comfort and hope in the story's resolution.–Riva Pollard, The Winsor School Library, Boston
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Dumped by her druggie mom, Veronica (Ronnie), 13, spent three years in nine different foster homes, until she finds a family with counselor Alison, who comes to love her and wants to adopt her. But can Ronnie trust anyone? Can she abandon the idea of reuniting with her "real" mom? In her first novel, Lowell, a family therapist, brings close the drama of betrayal and longing through Ronnie's first-person narrative, which always stays true to the young teen's viewpoint. In Ronnie's desperate need for acceptance by the popular kids at school, she abandons her needy friend, Cat, to the crowd's unspeakable cruelty and reveals that Cat is giving blow jobs. There are messagey moments (especially involving Alison's wise boyfriend), but even Alison proves less than perfect, and Ronnie learns that forgiveness is part of love. Readers will be moved by the story of anger and distrust in a harsh world, and the temptation to give up the best in yourself to fit in. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Childrens Books (October 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761453172
• ISBN-13: 978-0761453178
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hi,
I'm the author of young adutl books. My first book Returnable Girl
won several awards including VOYA, QUICK PICKS, and IRA Young Adult
Choices. Returnable Girl will be released in paperback this fall.
Look for Spotting for Nellie, Spring 2010.

Please check out my new book videos
at my website www.pamelalowell.com
or on YouTube.
Thanks!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, July 31, 2006

By 

Adoption Rhode Island "Darlene Allen" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Returnable Girl (Hardcover)

Returnable Girl is a story about hope, struggle, courage, loss,
resilience, old patterns and new beginnings. Pamela Lowell's book
captured the essence of how challenging it can be to grow up in state
care. Her story also showed the importance of family and how one adult
can make a lifetime of difference in a child's life. I thoroughly
enjoyed reading this book and am excited to share it with youth in care
as well as families considering foster care and adoption.

Darlene Allen
Executive Director
Adoption Rhode Island

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lost and Found, January 13, 2007

By 

Little Willow (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Returnable Girl (Hardcover)

Returnable Girl by Pamela Lowell features a headstrong foster child named Veronica (Ronnie) who "has been returned nine times between the ages of eleven and thirteen." As the story begins, she has been living with a foster mother named Alison for three months. Just as Ronnie starts feeling at home, her real mother re-enters the picture, making her wonder if blood is thicker than water. Meanwhile, a new friendship with a popular girl pushes Ronnie away from her only real friend, someone who has her own share of troubles. Just where does Ronnie belong?

Ronnie shares her story with readers in a series of journal entries. Her voice is remarkably real, made of equal parts bitter and longing. She is caught in that awkward period between her childhood and teenage years, and this book is perfect for her peers. It also may be instrumental in counseling sessions and foster homes, where kids who are reluctant to talk about their situation might prefer to read and write about it.

Though one should never judge a book by its cover, I have to say that the cover and the additional images on the book jacket are positively perfect. They show Ronnie exactly how she is, right down to her shoes. What does Ronnie carry around in that big garbage bag? You'll have to read the book to find out.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poignant story of abandonment and acceptance evolves., December 9, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Returnable Girl (Hardcover)

Pamela Lowell's RETURNABLE GIRL tells of Ronnie, whose mother to Alaska when after becoming involved with a good-for-nothing boyfriend. Ronnie has been 'returned' from numerous foster homes due to her lying and stealing and her last chance is Alison, a new foster mother. While she really longs to be popular, she longs for a real home even more: when given the choice between living with her mother or her last chance at a normal home, which should she choose? A poignant story of abandonment and acceptance evolves.