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Reviewed by:
  • Georgia Rules by Nanci Turner Steveson
  • Melanie Kirkwood
Steveson, Nanci Turner Georgia Rules. Harper/HarperCollins, 2017 [272p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-237457-8 $16.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-237459-2 $9.99
Reviewed from galleys         R Gr. 4-6

After the sudden breakup of her mom and stepfather, eleven-year-old Maggie's difficult mother makes a sudden executive decision to move with her daughter from their lavish Southern life in Atlanta, GA, to a small tourist town in Vermont. There Maggie is thrust into an entirely new way of being, leaving the clean and polite "Georgia rules" in the past and being forced to adjust to the honest and messy truths that she encounters in Vermont. While the story's focus is local and familial, it explores broader notions of American conservatism and liberalism and regional identity, exploring themes such as gay marriage (Maggie's close family friends are a lesbian couple with kids) and war veterans' PTSD (which it turns out Maggie's late father suffered from). As a result, it invites readers to grapple with the nuances of rule bending, breaking, and even banishing. Steveson takes time to develop and round out each of her characters and their histories, resulting in a singular, intricately woven story of people's complicated, rule-surpassing existences. This book gives young readers a useful perspective on the negotiation of power in their own lives, and it sheds a soft light on the imperfections of adults, creating space for honest and open dialogue.

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