Book Review: Beverly, Right Here

Readers first met Beverly Tapinski in Kate DiCamillo's book, Rayme Nightingale. In Beverly, Right Here, we watch the fourteen-year-old run away from home to find a place for herself in the world. I struggled with the title. Plus, it features a cast of reprehensible characters: an absent father, a disinterested mother, a nosy neighbor, a vile bully, a shady boss, and a pushy evangelist (offering tracts and preying on innocent children with graphic images of snakes and devils). I worry the main character's actions might encourage young readers to have idealized views of running away, trusting strangers, stealing, and underage driving.

When Beverly's friend Louisiana moves away and her dog dies, Beverly is bereft. She hops a ride to another town, finds a job, and moves in with a friendly stranger in a trailer park. Desperation and genuine soul-ache ooze from the pages. The cover promises it will "break your heart and put it back together again." Sadly, I felt I only managed the broken heart. I simply wanted more redemption from the story. Despite plenty of random acts of kindness (tokens for the horse ride, tickets entered to win the world's largest turkey, offers to build a sandcastle, etc.), the disconnectedness of people pervaded. The writing is easily digested, the emotions tapped, but the resolution didn't satisfy sufficiently. I still think Kate DiCamillo spins gold, but this wasn't my favorite book.