The Center of Everything

I read The Center of Everything quickly and handed it off to my eleven year old daughter with the reminder to her that this is the author that wrote A Crooked Kind of Perfect, which she recalled quickly after I described the cover as having feet different socks on it. A Crooked Kind of  Perfect was a book Big Sister really enjoyed and commented on. Her fourth grade teacher recommended it to her last year, and she loved it.  Despite the fact that I wanted to tell her "I told you so" since I had been telling her about this book for a while, I was mostly just happy she loved Urban's first book.  And now, Urban's third book  (we've both read her second) is about to be published and I don't have to sell Urban at all. She has already sold herself.

Ruby Pepperdine's story takes place in just a small window of time. She is waiting to read her prize-winning essay at the Bunning Day Parade, all the while thinking back to the past as she reflects on the different events that led her to this time.  Right now Ruby is dealing with her grief over the death of her beloved grandmother, Gigi.  It is her wish to set everything right, to go back in time to before she lost Gigi. As her twelfth birthday nears, Ruby knows she must seize her chance to set everything straight. 

As with her other books, Urban has created some very real yet unique characters that comprise Ruby's circle of friends and are a part of Bunning, New Hampshire.  Urban has also managed to develop a story that deals with a lot of emotions and issues that kids go through and communicates them in a very real way. I loved Ruby Pepperdine, and am anxious for my daughter to read this novel to see what she thinks of Urban's latest book.