Title: Eight Keys
Author: Suzanne LaFleur
Number of Pages: 216
Excerpt From Back of Book: "For Elise, nothing has seemed right since middle school started. She gets tortured by her locker partner and can't get her homework done. A new baby moves into her house, interrupting her wonderful life with Uncle Hugh and Aunt Bessie. Worst of all, things with her best friend, Franklin, just are not the same as they used to be."
- Elise (the main character) got bullied
- She and her best friend are drifting apart and she doesn't like it
- She can't keep up with her homework load
- She loves ice cream
Has anybody ever noticed that in a lot of YA or MG fiction, one or more of the parents have died? Sometimes it feels fake, and sometimes it doesn't. This time it doesn't. Elise's circumstances are real. Her mom died after she was born (I think) and her father passed away when she was a toddler. She lives with her aunt and uncle. It all just seems so real.
-Olivia