Jake Burt

After the death of her grandmother and with her father in prison, Nicki has been shuffled from foster home to foster home looking for someone who will accept her for what she is, a thief, specifically a pick-pocket. When the US Marshals create Project Family, Nicki is trained and chosen to move with a family into the Witness Protection Program (WITSEC) as their daughter. Elena, the family's mother has testified against her brother and they are now all in danger. Nicki becomes Charlotte and show more joins the Trevor family in North Carolina. What follows are funny, touching events that find Nicki/Charlotte trying to settle into her new life where she must maintain a B- average and remain as unobtrusive as possible, but Nicki has never been good at being unobtrusive.

Greetings From Witness Protection! is a fun coming-of-age story with some mystery, adventure and school hijinks thrown in. Nicki's character is well developed as are the other members of the family along with Nicki's best friend, Brit. Someone like Nicki could not have survived what she has unscathed, so her kleptomania adds depth and reality to her character. Overall, Greetings From Witness Protection! has characters that are easy to identify with and is a wonderful middle grade story. show less

I'll be recommending this book highly to my 4th and 5th grade library students, but it's also a great read for adults. The tween voices are authentic. Nicki, narrator, is funny and quirky—and a kleptomaniac with incredible dexterity who has a phobia about anyone touching her hands. As a foster kid, she's tapped to help a family in the witness protection program. The bad guys are looking for a mom, dad, and son. They're not looking for a family with a daughter, too. We get glimpses of the show more bad guys getting closer and closer to finding them, but the focus is on the family dynamics, with Nicki (now Charlotte) and her new brother, Jackson (who is furious at having to leave everyone and everything he knew), trying to fit into a new school without attracting too much attention to themselves. Not to give anything away, but the end was both riveting and uplifting. show less

Picked it up by accident...Lucky me! A strong protagonist who could have easily slid into angry snark. Instead, she uses her own painful experiences to help her new fake family heal and become cohesive, makes a valuable friend and even gets her new angsty younger brother to get real. Plenty of action at the end, coupled with a surprise i didn't see coming. Altogether a very satisfying read.

Cool. A little confusing because Cleo is supposed to have a large head of curly hair but cover does not reflect that. Really original, and I found it really hit home after our pandemic experiences -- both the weirdness of sudden human adaptability (all inside, all the time) and the loss of innocence that accompanies a great quest, whatever motivates it. Really well targeted for upper elementary/ young middle grade readers -- post apocalyptic can be very dark very fast, but this has a certain show more level of gentleness to it, with the bigger looming themes in the background. I end up with lots of questions, (for instance, do families really never meet again once a child leaves to start a family? Are there limits on childbirth? Who makes all the things that people need? Who maintains the drones?) but I found the book very interesting. show less