Flip-Flop Girl

There are lots of books about youngsters coping with family problems but this one stands out by a mile. The protagonist is nine years old but the insights presented in the book demand an older reader of 11 to 13, I would say. Vinnie's father has died, the family has moved to a new town and she has no friends. As if this was not enough, her five-year-old brother Mason has not spoken or eaten properly since Dad died and all Mum and Grandma's attention is focused on him, leaving Vinnie to cope as best she can. Some comfort comes from a crush on Mr Clayton, her new teacher, and more from a tenuous relationship with Lupe, whom Vinnie thinks of as the flip-flop girl because of her footwear and who has family problems of her own. A tenderly told tale but you'll have to push it as a depressingly old-fashioned cover will not attract the readership who would enjoy it.