The Butterfly Girl by Rene Denfeld

Naomi is still searching for her lost sister.  She managed to get away from the predator who took her and her little sister but she couldn't take her with her.  She told her she'd be back.  She can help other people find their missing children.  It's heartbreaking not to be able to find her sister...

Harper sent me an ARC of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published so you can get a copy now.

This story is sad.  It's about homeless girls and boys and what they have to do to eat and clothe themselves.  It's not nice things.  When Naomi wanders among the street people, she meets young Celia.  She's 12 and she's just the age that a predator has been stealing from the streets.  He abuses them and kills them.  Celia has already been abused by her stepfather so she's very cautious.

Naomi works with her favorite detective, who tells her to talk to the FBI.  She finds out who the suspected predators were in her case.  When she visits the adoption home they were in, they send her to visit an old woman.  That woman tells her her name and her sister's name.  She's getting closer.

Celia lives in a world of butterflies.  She escapes to them when bad things happen.  Naomi takes her to a butterfly museum and she's entranced.  They return home and each go their own way.

Then Celia goes missing.  She talked about a house that scared her, but Naomi doesn't know where it is.  She finds a map in her book at the library.  Will she be in time?

Despite the look at an ugly part of life nowadays, the ending is uplifting.  There's hope for a new beginning.  This not an easy book to read but it was worth it.