Susan Kreller

Tells a story about a girl who sticks to her idea of reality, even though all the annoying adults around her lie to keep the status quo. Her inner strength & loyalty to her friends lead her to a plausible solution for a closeted 13-yr old. This is one of those books that could win the most horrible parents award, like The War That Saved My Life. Caution recommending to sensitive children because of violence.

Every year, Mascha is sent to spend time with her boring and apathetic grandparents while her dad wallows in his work and his sorrows. She is the outsider in their quiet little town, and she has nothing to do and no one to talk to until she meets Julia and Max. As she begins to build a friendship with Julia, she realizes that everything is not right in their perfectly landscaped house. After trying unsuccessfully to get help from adults, she begins a costly journey to try to save the two show more kids from a life of fear that is all that they have ever known. show less

A fast and heart breaking read! What will anger you is the fact that a young girl witnesses children being abused and when she attempts to tell her grandparents, they shush her in an effort to maintain their perfect little reputation in their perfect little town! Until.... A young girl has the guts to care more!

Since her mother died, her grief-stricken father has been sending thirteen-year-old Mascha to her grandparent’s house for the summer in Clinton, a small town where nothing exciting ever happens. She wanders around town with her earbuds in, lonely and bored, until she meets Julia and Max who are the only kids who seem to want to talk to her. As she gets to know them she notices bruises and injuries that concern her, and then she accidently sees their father physically abusing Max. Mascha is show more determined to find a way to protect them since none of the adults in her life seem to want to admit that Max and Julia are being abused. This is an important, powerful, well-written novel for tweens, with a brave, enterprising young heroine, about the very serious, and often hidden, subject of child abuse.

Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
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