Monday, April 11, 2016

Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding

Imagine living in a car on the beach.  It might be fun for a weekend but all the time?  No...

Little Brown Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published May 10th.

This has a bit of the feeling I got when reading Boxcar Children stories as a child.  This group of four siblings have parents but they aren't around.  The mom's show up once a month to leave a bit of money for them and they know one dad went to sea and hasn't returned.  The other is an explorer and out doing that.  So they fend for themselves.

The man who owns the laundromat is kind to them and lets them know when the vending machine is broken.  They can eat anything they want when it's broke because it's not his.  He doesn't care about the big company that owns it.  They do their laundry, go to school, buy what food they can afford and eat a lot of fish caught in the ocean.  It's not bad generally but the youngest are getting bigger and there isn't enough room in the car for them to sleep anymore.  The thought of a house sounds impossible and lovely both at the same time.

When one of their mothers is picked up for tax evasion, they try to talk her into letting them live in her house.  She agrees but gets a phone call to tell her she's losing all her assets including the house.  So much for that.

Kim has an idea but she won't tell the others what it is.  It's dangerous, exciting and shouldn't be possible, but it works.

I loved everything about this book except the fact that they get saddled with a new baby.  It appears one of the mom's had another child and she's given them the responsibility of raising it.  That was just a little too much for me.

All in all, it was a good story, fun to read, and even the goldfish has survived. 

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