Sneak Thief by Faith Harkey (review)

For twelve-year-old Hush, thieving is more than a petty crime or an attempt to make ends meet for her and her emotionally abusive mom, Nina. Sure, they live in the run-down trailer park known as ’Bagoville, Georgia, but what she calls her “loco” is more than a means of survival—it’s a hardcore, ravenous addiction. After a spiraling chain of events including an unexpected friendship, her mom’s convict boyfriend trying to sell her into a money-laundering scheme, and then getting caught thieving in town, Hush is faced with a tough decision—juvie or spending the summer recovering from her loco with the town’s herbal medicine specialist, Mabel. Little does Hush know she and Mabel have more in common than a history of dealing with locos; they also share the ability to heal, albeit in different ways: it turns out that Hush has the ability to lift pain from people with her hands. With a strong shake of America’s Southern culture, this title will whisk readers away with Hush and her community as they journey towards redemption, friendship, forgiveness and healing. With the credible voice and reasoning of a preteen, Harkey tackles heavy subject matter, exploring the effects and outcomes of parental abuse and humanizing her trailer park community without shying away from the grim troubles and realities of both situations. The book never lets the elements of magical realism become overconvenient devices, and instead of a neat resolution readers are left with a satisfyingly undone lesson that’s applicable to the masses—that pain can be a teacher, and “we should heed it.”