Returnable Girl » (Reprint)

After years of deceptive, impulsive behavior, 13-year old Ronnie must choose between returning to the mother who abandoned her or accepting her foster mother as her true mother.

VOYA

Thirteen-year-old Veronica Hartman has lost count of the number of foster homes in which she has lived since her mother abandoned her at age six. Now placed with therapist Allison, who wants to adopt her, Ronnie secretly believes that her mother will overcome her drug and alcohol addiction and send for her. She expects that she and her younger brothers, still living with her mother in Alaska, will be a family again. Ronnie befriends Cat, an unattractive, troubled girl ostracized by other teens at their middle school. Soon beautiful, popular, and selfish Paige shows interest in Ronnie, but entrance into Paige's clique means that Ronnie must abandon Cat. As Ronnie advances socially, Cat, in an attempt to steal Paige's boyfriend, declines into promiscuity. Meanwhile as Allison proceeds with the adoption, Ronnie's mother sends a letter saying that she is about to be released from a halfway house and wants Ronnie back. Ronnie, riding several emotional roller coasters at once, tries hard to find her place. Lowell, a clinical social worker specializing in work with teenage girls, offers a debut novel that rings true. Anger, grief, confusion, rebellion, and finally resolution, acceptance, and love are clearly portrayed in the character of Ronnie as she matures. With its clear, direct language and an appealing heroine, the book is likely to draw a wide range of teen readers, especially girls.