As her family noisily slurps root beers at a drive-in stop, Carmen longs to be invisible — especially when Clark and Larry shout out the news about Mama. Can it get any worse than this? Carmen imagines she’s been kidnapped — how else did she wind up as one of the Cathcarts. . . . At almost thirteen she’s the oldest, with five noisy little brothers, a dreamy mom, and a sometimes reckless dad.
When she’s a famous artist, she’ll get away from them all!
This wonderfully honest and bighearted first novel mirrors life. Carmen Cathcart becomes a friend as, with a voice that is deeply moving yet often funny, she shares the importance of holding on to your dreams and what it means to be a family.
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Sexual Content - /5
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Violence - /5
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Language - /5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 1/5
1/5
Summary
I love, love, love this book. Carmen is the oldest of six children with two parents who have a hard time staying put. The family is constantly on the move, stuffing all their belongings in the station wagon whenever the father gets antsy. When they move to Independence, MO and Carmen finally makes a friend, she thinks maybe her life has taken a turn for the better. But, tragedy strikes and the entire family faces new challenges and has to find a different, unexpected path. Being a 12 can really suck, especially when your family is even a little different. There is NO WAY I would ever time travel back to those years. Just reading Harness’ book was enough to remind me of way too many things I’d rather forget. But, like it or not, Harness takes us back as she opens Carmen’s heart for the reader to see every pure and untarnished emotion. It will either make you laugh or cry, or maybe both.