Beverly, Right Here
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Beverly put her foot down on the gas. They went faster still. This was what Beverly wanted – what she always wanted. To get away. To get away as fast as she could. To stay away. Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it’s not running away ... it’s leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mum, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn’t want to depend on anyone, and she definitely doesn’t want anyone to depend on her. But despite her best efforts, she can’t help forming connections with the people around her – and gradually she learns to see herself through their eyes. In a touching, funny and fearless conclusion to her sequence of novels about the beloved Three Rancheros, #1 New York Times bestselling author Kate DiCamillo tells the story of a character who will break your heart and put it back together again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This thoughtful companion to two-time Newbery Medal winner DiCamillo's Raymie Nightingale and Louisiana's Way Home follows Beverly Tapinski, the third of the Three Rancheros, in August 1979 four years after the first book's events. Grieving the death of her beloved dog Buddy and tired of her mother's drinking, Beverly, 14, decides to skip town. After she hitches a ride to Tamaray Beach, a lie about her age garners her a job at Mr. C's restaurant and room with elderly Iola, who offers the girl shelter in exchange for her driving Iola around. Beverly can be deeply unforthcoming about her feelings, making her gradual transition away from a solitary being determined not to rely on others feel deeply meaningful. Secondary characters sensitive teen store clerk Elmer, who's interested in art; bingo enthusiast Iola; and the staff of Mr. C's are well defined through concise narrative and dialogue, and DiCamillo builds them into a new community that matters a great deal to Beverly. But it's Beverly's private moments thoughts of the other Rancheros, a message revealed, a love for the term lapis lazuli that move her from being a person in flight to a present, whole participant in her world. Ages 10 up.)
