Reaching for Sun (review)

At school, Josie's cerebral palsy makes her an outsider in her seventh grade; at home, she's mostly looked after by her strong-minded country grandmother, while her single mother labors to complete her degree and presses Josie to keep up with her exercises and physical therapy. In a series of free-verse poems divided by season, Josie tells of the changes she undergoes in this year when she finds a close friend in a new neighbor and classmate, Jordan, and when her grandmother suffers a debilitating stroke. The plot and characters are largely predictable, and the writing is sometimes overwrought—poems often succumb to the cliché of using their conclusions as dramatic emotional punchlines, and the phraseology is occasionally strained or puzzling. It's an emotional story for all that, with a sensitive perspective on Josie's physical difference, a difference that she sees from the outside when her grandmother struggles with her own physical limitations. There's also some gentle reflection on Josie's physical and mental maturation, and the flower metaphor that runs through the book may be unsubtle, but its clarity will assist young readers' understanding. Though this is more good-hearted then well written, it's an easy-reading drama that may particularly entice reluctant readers.