by Maureen Johnson
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Chome on,” Palmer said, her words dulled from numb-tongue syndrome caused by the Icee she was slurping.”

A review about a Maureen Johnson book shouldn’t be that hard. This is the last one that she’s written that I hadn’t read, and honestly, there really isn’t that much to say that hasn’t already been said before.

(For proof, check out: Girl at Sea, Suite Scarlett, The Bermudez Triangle, Let it Snow, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Devilish. Did I miss one?)

The plot of this one is slightly darker than her other books (she usually doesn’t deal with death): May Gold’s dad died of a heart attack a year ago, and she, her two sisters (one older — Brooks — and one younger — Palmer) and mother have been trying to scrape by. The Golden Firebird in question is her dad’s 1967 Pontiac, which has basically been sitting in the garage gathering dust since the day he died. May just turned 16, and the big event in her life is getting a driver’s license. Except that since her mom works nights at the hospital and May is at school and works during the day, there’s no one to teach her. Enter next-door neighbor and nemesis, Pete.

Turns out that dealing with loss is a lot more difficult than any of the Gold sisters would have thought. They’re all dealing with it in different (yet all equally miserable) ways: Brooks comes home every night completely smashed and quits the softball team. May throws herself into being responsible and working hard at both her job and school. Palmer retreats into herself and her softball game but finds it difficult to sleep at nights. It’s not until everything comes crashing around them during the summer that they find a way to deal with their loss and move on.

As I said before, there’s not much to say about this book that hasn’t already been said about Maureen Johnson. It’s not as swoon-worthy as some of her other books, but there’s still much about it that I love in her writing. It’s funny, it’s full of characters you can’t help but love. It’s full of wacky adventures, misunderstandings, and times when you just want to hang people by their toenails for being stupid. It’s not my favorite of her books (that would be Suite Scarlett or Girl at Sea), but it’s definitely worth reading.