Harry Sue

Harry Sue Clotkin is a feisty protagonist whose main goal is to get "sent up" to jail so she can be with her incarcerated mother. However, her inherent kindness and sense of responsibility constantly derail her plans for delinquency. The story follows Harry Sue as she navigates caring for younger children at her grandmother's home day care, forms a deep friendship with Homer, a quadriplegic boy, and finds an unexpected mentor in her art teacher. This middle-grade novel explores themes of identity, family, friendship, and finding redemption, offering a heartwarming and humorous look at a child grappling with difficult circumstances and discovering her true self. It's a fast-paced read with quirky, lovable characters.

Harry Sue Clotkin is tough. Her mom's in the slammer and she wants to get there too, as fast as possible, so they can be together. But it's not so easy to become a juvenile delinquent when you've got a tender heart. Harry Sue's got her hands full caring for the crumb-snatchers who take up her afternoons at the day care center, and spending time with her best friend Homer, a quadriplegic who sees life from a skylight in the roof of his tree house. When Harry Sue finds an unlikely confidante in her new art teacher, her ambitions toward a life of crime are sidelined as she comes to a deeper understanding about her past--and future.Sue Stauffacher has once again crafted a fast-paced middle-grade novel filled with quirky but lovable characters, a narrator impossible to ignore, a completely original plot, and a whole lot of redemption.From the Hardcover edition.