Not exactly the Brady Bunch

I've been checking out some of the 2013 Rebecca Caudill nominees, and I sure like this one: Bounce by Natasha Friend.  Evyn is 13, and it feels like her life is being turned upside-down when her widowed father announces to Evyn and her geeky brother that he's getting married. And they're moving in with his soon-to-be wife.  AND she's got six kids.  Aauugh!  Soon you're hearing about the sweater twins (who always fight), Cleanser Boy (actually named Ajax), and the mean It Girls (like Andrea - On-DREY-a) at Evyn's snooty new private school.  Evyn has a wonderfully funny and very authentic way of describing her life, but it's touching, too - she often has discussions with Stella, her deceased mother, who offers advice and suggests that Evyn let things "bounce" off of her.  A terrific book, especially for those dealing with the ups and downs of a blended family.

Quite the rebel

After I read a summary of Scarlett by Cathy Cassidy, I thought, "This is a Caudill nominee?"  But now I see why.  At the ripe old age of 12, Scarlett is already trouble.  With her parents divorced, she's living in London with her mom and has just gotten kicked out of school...again.  Her mom can no longer handle Scarlett's rebelliousness and sends her to Ireland to live with father and his new wife and step-daughter.  Scarlett is full of anger at the family that seems so loving, the teeny-tiny school she's sent to, and the lack of attention from her mom.  But after she meets Kian, a mysterious boy with a horse named Midnight, she starts to soften and accept the love her step-family is offering.  Although Scarlett's character sometimes seemed older than the age of 12, I enjoyed watching that character develop, and the descriptions of both Kian and the Irish countryside added a lyrical touch of magic.

Normal never sounded so good

Sometimes the word "normal" sounds boring, but that's all 12-year-old Addie is looking for in Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor.  After her mother ("Mommers") gets divorced, the two of them move to a trailer in a busy part of Schenectady, New York.  Mommers has a good heart, but she's unreliable and sometimes disappears for days at a time.  Addie is amazingly independent and tries to make the best of bad situation by befriending Soula and Elliot from the nearby convenience store, working hard at her flute (a challenge because of her dyslexia), and keeping a close and heart-warming relationship with her ex-stepfather Dwight and two younger half-sisters.  My favorite line was when Soula said a hibiscus tree in the barbershop was like Addie, "willing to bloom in conditions [she] was never meant to encounter."