Book review
(I read and reviewed this book for 3rd quarter)
I really liked this book. I gave it 5 stars because I think it is so inspirational and it is a great story. It is really hard to put down towards the end/middle. The only part I would have changed in the book, is what happens to the main character’s mother. But overall, I loved this book and I think that I have learned something from it. I am not sure what exactly I learned, but now that I have read it, I feel like I can understand more mature situations now.
This story is very interesting. The main character, Heidi, has a mother with special needs. Heidi is about 12 years old. Heidi and her mother live with Bernie, or Bernadette. Bernie takes care of Heidi and ‘Momma.’ Bernie told Heidi that Momma just appeared at her doorstep one day, carrying baby Heidi. Bernie has agoraphobia. That means that she can’t leave her house. Heidi and Momma have their own apartment, and Bernie has her own apartment. But it works out because the two rooms have connecting doors. Heidi is ‘home-schooled,’ by Bernie. Heidi has to grow up really quickly. She is the only one in the ‘family’ with a job. She babysits. She goes to the grocery store by herself, and she goes to the library by herself. She also has a ‘lucky-streak.’ She can gamble, play cards, guess the amounts of things in a jar, guess ‘heads or tails,’ and almost anything else and get the right answer. One day, Heidi decides that she wants to know where she came from and who Momma is. She finds some old photographs and sees who Bernie thinks is Momma and Momma’s mother. Momma also says a very strange word – ‘Soof.’ No one knows what it means. When Heidi and Bernie are looking through the pictures, they see one that says, ‘Hilltop Home, Liberty, New York.’ Finally, Heidi convinces Bernie to let her go to Liberty. Heidi travels by bus to get there. When she gets there, she has to find a cab to take her to Hilltop. She goes to the cab place, and finds that all of her money was stolen. But, there is a contest to see if you can guess the right number of jelly-beans. The winner gets a free cab ride. Heidi holds the jar, and guesses a number. When the man checks, the number is right! So, Heidi gets to go to Hilltop. She keeps asking if Momma had been there. Then she sees someone sleeping in a chair. He looks like he also has special needs. Then, a woman walks into the room and says to Heidi, ‘May I help you?’ The woman is nice, though. So Heidi introduces herself and explains why she is there. To see if Momma had been there. The woman said that her name was Ruby, and that the other person’s name is Elliot. Elliot says Momma’s word – ‘Soof,’ to Heidi.Then Heidi wants to talk to Thurman Hill, the owner of Hilltop. When Mr. Hill sees Heidi, he thinks she is someone else. He thinks that she wants money from him. So, Ruby tells Heidi that she can stay with her for the night. Heidi meets Ruby’s husband, Roy. They take care of Heidi. Roy is a police officer. Roy talks with Thurman Hill about the situation. Mr. Hill says that Momma was never there. But no one believed him. Later in the book, they find out that Momma was there. And that her name is really Sophia Lynn DeMuth. She was born November 23rd, and her mother died from getting hit by a bus. Then, Heidi finds out that Momma and Elliot were best friends. Mr. Hill says that ‘Soof’ might be Heidi’s mom. But then, Mr. Hill tells Heidi that Elliot is her (Heidi’s) father. Heidi is so surprised. But then when she calls Bernie to tell her all of the news that she has found out, Bernie tells Heidi to come home. But Heidi just ignores Bernie and is eager to find out more. Then, Heidi finds out that Momma has died. Bernie said that she passed in her sleep. They have a funeral and Momma is buried in Liberty, New York. At the end of the book, Heidi has gone back to Bernie, and Roy and Ruby have a baby. But they weren’t able to before. Heidi also lost her lucky streak, and Ruby thinks that Heidi had passed it on to her. Heidi goes back and visits Rub and Roy, but she isn’t ready to go back to Hilltop, yet.
This is not like any book I have ever read. But this book reminds me of when I go to camp, how eager I am to find out everything that has happened at home while I was gone. This also kind of scares me, because I know I would be so devastated if someone were to pass away while I was on vacation or at camp. This is like how Momma passes away when Heidi is gone.
- Goodreads rating – 4.11
- SUMMARY – Sophie Friedland