Almost Home (review)

Sad family circumstances and eviction from their home send sixth-grader Sugar Mae Cole and her mother, Reba, to Chicago, where Reba has a lead on a cleaning job ("I can clean up anybody's mess except my own," says Reba). The lead proves fruitless and their first night in Chicago, Reba experiences a "severe depressive incident" and ends up in a mental hospital. After a few nights in a group hope, Sugar is placed into foster care with a couple named Lexie and Mac, a placement that proves to be her salvation in the end as she and her mother together begin to take steps towards rebuilding their lives. Sugar is a remarkable character, and her development is fully realized in this complex story of survival; she is gracious, grateful, persuasive, honest, and far stronger than she realizes. Accompanying her on her journey is Shush, a puppy who came to her by accident but who proves to be a formidable force in her recovery. A plethora of quirky side characters (most notably Mr. B, her teacher back in Missouri, with whom she keeps up an email correspondence) and writing formats (the narrative is punctuated with a cross-section of Sugar's writing, from poetry to letters) drive the novel. While Bauer fans will definitely want to get their paws on this one, there's plenty of realism here to draw a wider crowd.