by
Pub Date:
Bloomsbury Children's Books
Kita is a really identifiable character, a girl
going into grade 7 whose mission is to look after
her younger siblings, keep their home life on track amid her mother's partying and
absenteeism and cruelty, and most of all keep the family from being split up into different foster homes AGAIN.
She’s also got hyperdontia, two rows of teeth. The kids at school
call her Sharkita or Shark Teeth. She's heard all the hurtful phrases that
everyone who is physically different faces, and by now expects them. Which new person would ask her what’s wrong with her teeth? Which would say no offense before saying
something that could only seen as offensive? Or, what hurt the most: which would pretend she wasn’t there at all?
Kita wants to join after school activities like her friends do. She wants to be a kid. And that seems to be what the new assistant principal is encouraging. Even when she’s trying out for the dance
and twirl team at school, with her mother's blessing, Kita’s stressed
about whether Mama is actually looking after the younger siblings or has
gone off again. She has episodes of severe muscle spasms, but her mother just tells
her they’re a sign of being crazy. If she tells anyone about them, she could get locked up. Mama's really an expert at cutting off Kita from anyone who might help her.
This is a touching story of Kita's struggle to become a kid again: to learn to trust others to look after her siblings better than she can, to accept help and support and even love from people who truly have her best interests at heart. Foster kids will see their own struggles here, and other kids will relate to Kita's insecurities as well as learning empathy for classmates who too often are mocked for their poverty, their enforced maturity, their visible differences.
Five Stars.
#NetGalley #FosterCare #FosterHome #Family #FoundFamily #Family Dysfunction #MiddleGrade #Twirl #DanceTeam #School #Friendship #Bloomsbury
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