Lucy Rose...a favorite new character!

I'm not sure how I ever missed the character, Lucy Rose. She debuted in 2004 in Here's the Thing About Me, by Katy Kelly. A and I read her this past spring together. Lucy Rose would be a great book for anyone living with divorced parents. This first book is about her transition from living in Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington, DC. She and her mother move just down the street from her grandparents. This move brings about much uncertainty as she makes new friends, learns about a new city, creates a new home, and visits with her dad occasionally. An additional bonus is reading about family support and relationships on a daily basis for Lucy. Lucy's grandmother is an expert on children and a writer. She writes for a newspaper and people send her letters asking for advice. Lucy herself does this along the way, without her grandmother knowing it's her (wink, wink) and gets responses to help guide her. Lucy herself becomes a writer and tells her story through a journal type format, with a great voice of self. I also loved the subtle role of her teacher, Mr. Welsh. He has a gentle presence and keeps checking in to see if each month is getting better. Mr. Welsh learns early on that Lucy Rose has a way with palindromes, words that are spelled the same forward and backwards and this play with words continues throughout the book. A and I had a lot of fun checking out all the palindromes used and began to think of some on our own. Lucy Rose and her Dad write emails to each other using palindromes often. Lucy Rose is a spunky, smart, girl character with a very realistic story that transitional readers will easily connect with.