Customer Reviews

Returnable Girl

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Here are several reviews from teens (copied as written), many of whom have been in very similar situations to the ones Ronnie lives through in the book:

*I love how you threw a different personality on every character. It made the conflicts that more interesting. I wish I could say one exact character was like me but I can't. Every character had a trait that was like my own in some type of way. -Adrian

*I really enjoyed the book. It made me think about my life, God, the things I've been through. I seem to always mess things up or compare them to others but now I realize that I'm the one who judges me and I need to take responsibility. -Anon.

*After I started reading it more I was so into it I couldn't put the book down. I would recommend this book to my friends because it's such a good book. I loved the book and I think there should be a number 2 because when I got to the end I was like what happens next. I want to know so bad. -Ambera

If you were left behind by your mother with only a bag of clothes to your name, how would you feel towards her? This is the problem for Ronnie, a thirteen year old foster child. She has lived her life being sent to and from many different foster homes and then returned sooner or later. Finally, she gets to one home that is not so bad. Ronnie is the narrator of the story and the story is in diary form. In the story she lives with a Lady named Alison. To her surprise, Alison doesn't send her right back after Ronnie pulls a few "stunts". All of this takes place in the realistic fiction novel, Returnable Girl, by Pamela Lowell.

Returnable Girl is a story of hope, finding a new start, and most of all love. At first Ronnie has trouble staying out of trouble and does some things that many people could never forgive someone for. After you're about 1/8 of a page in, the pages practically turn themselves as Ronnie's fight for a real home stays strong. She comes across my obstacles and "bumps in the road" but she gets through most of them (whether making the right or wrong decision). After making the biggest decision of her life, the story seemed to end too soon. I could have read on and on for thousands of pages more.

I loved the story and I think that any teenage girl would really love it. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves to read and have a strong will for love

I wanted to start this review by looking up the definition of the word Mother. There were multiple definitions, but the one that I liked best was "maternal tenderness or affection". Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had never had my children. I know that there are many people out there who would do anything to be able to have and/or raise a child, and others who try but somehow fail - this is one of those stories.

Meet Veronica Hartman. At 13 she has been in and out of 9 foster homes, 10 if you count the time she stayed with her Aunt and Uncle - that's where she went after her mother packed up her two brothers and fled for Alaska telling Ronnie "I need you to listen. We can't take you with us. There's not enough room." Shaken down to her very core, Ronnie has been trying everything in order to get reunited with her family. Riddled with behavioral problems from lying to stealing to anger issues, her case worker has turned to Alison as a last resort. Alison is a therapist and is willing to take Ronnie in and give her one last chance to prove that she can change her ways.

Although Ronnie and Alison have a rocky beginning, before long Ronnie seems to be making improvements not only in her behavior, but in her socialization skills as well. She is part of the "in" crowd at school - even though to get there she had to betray the only true friend she had made, someone who accepted her for herself, rather than try to mold her into someone they wanted her to be. And, even though her mother has suffered from drug and alcohol abuse in the past, it seems as if she may have finally gotten her life back on track and will be ready to have Ronnie come and stay with her. The only question is, is it too late?

Reading this book made me think of what it was like growing up. The teenage years are not a pleasant experience for anyone, at least that is what I believe. I can't imagine the additional struggles that are faced by children that are part of the "system". I loved the way the author delved into each character, and even though some of them seemed pretty rotten, she still let you see that there was good in each of them. I think this is very important - people normally don't do bad things on purpose, but are sometimes victims themselves. We should all try to remember that, before we judge others too quickly.

This is a great read for anyone, not just young adults. Thanks for allowing us the opportunity!

Questions for the author:

Do you have any children?

Yes, I have two teen boys. I love writing and working with girls because I grew up in a very "girl" oriented family with two sisters, no brothers, and only one male cousin--and 10 female cousins!
Now that I am the only "girl" in my house (even our dog is a male) I tell my family that I write about and work with girls to get my "girl fix"!

I see that you are a therapist. Have you ever taken in a foster child or did you rely on your experience to help define your characters?

I've never taken in a foster child. But I have worked with many wonderful foster kids and families and this experience allows me to feel very confident about character motivations and story lines. Some of the people I work with have these very incredible things happen to them--good and bad--but I think just listening to voices of teens every week helps to keep my character voices "real".

Are any of your characters based on "real" people or are they just a combination of many?

Ronnie was based on a foster child I worked with many years ago. That is to say I was thinking about what she might be like as a teenager as I wrote Returnable Girl. I met this girl when she was 6 years old, and my own son was 6, and to think about a child having to move from place to place like she did (while my own son was snug in his own bed) was very heart-wrenching to say the least. But Ronnie's "story" is entirely made up as are all of my characters.

Do you have any additional books in the works?

Yes! I'm currently in the process of working on SPOTTING FOR NELLIE.