Synopsis: Ever since her brother’s death, Dellie’s life has been quiet and sad. She lives with unspeakable guilt that the accident may have been all her fault.
But Dellie’s world begins to change when new neighbors move into her apartment building. Miss Shirley with her wisdom, and Corey, a five-year-old boy who is in desperate need of love and protection. Can Dellie find the strength to do for him what she couldn’t do for her brother— save him?
Release Date: 23rd September 2021 (6th January 2011 Original publishing)
Genres: Teen, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Grief, Friendship, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Family, Crime, Social Issues, Poverty.
Pages: 244
Thank you so much to author Danette Vigilante for the ebook to read and review.
Wow, this book was heavy, emotional, raw, so intricately and delicately written. Wow was I not ready for that at all and honestly had no idea o was stepping into such a world when I started this.
This book is just exquisite and raw set in a poor New York apartment block we are shown the nitty gritty painful realistic life so many have there and it opens your eyes to a part of real life rarely written about.
Dellie our protagonist who totally melted me and made me connected instantly to the story goes through so much, dealing with the grief from her loss of her little brother and guilt she feels over it. Her parents grief and shut down trying to figure out how to live without him and barely hanging on. Being bullied and being sidelined by it all not having seen it coming. Experiencing having her first major crush. Most importantly though the deep kindness in her heart to stand up and be brave for a young boy who is being neglected and hurt, stopping at nothing no matter how scary a situation to protect him. I absolutely adored how much she cared for little Corey and how much he cared for her too.
This story as I said is very raw, heavy and emotional, I cried, my heart hurt and I felt everything with them all as I read this and my heart still feels the story even now after reading it and I think it will stay with me for a while.
Danette has such a perfect way of writing, describing a setting, portraying real people and real lives and of taking you to a place that even though you’ve never been to feels like you are literally there experiencing all this harrowing pain and real life scariness. She’s an extordinary story teller and I’m in awe of her talent.
About Author: Danette Vigilante grew up in the Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, New York. She continues to live in NYC with her family and sweet pup, Luna. One day she hopes to move to a place where the sun is always shining and the air is warm. Danette is the author of TIA LUGO SPEAKS NO EVIL, THE TROUBLE WITH HALF A MOON, a Sunshine State Young Readers award nominee, and SAVING BABY DOE, a pick for the New York Public Library 100 titles for Reading and Sharing list. Danette encourages literacy in her community via a Little Free Library installed on her front lawn.
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