First-time author Nancy Crocker makes our Young Adult short list with a compelling coming-of-age novel about a girl named William Marie Standish, who’s all but ignored by her unloving parents.
The book drew rave reviews around the blogosphere, with our own Julie Danielson admiring the author’s skill in weaving a nuanced story around a bare-bones plot:
…this novel has an unabashed, never-histrionic heart at its center, which makes it a compelling page-turner. In the hands of a clumsier author, this could have failed miserably and made the book intolerably boring. But what really makes it work is that every. word. of. it. rings. true. Just when you wonder if, on the next page, Crocker will take us to Schmaltz-ville (though I could tell immediately that she’s not one for visiting places like that), she tempers it all with some humor, some tension, and always with abundant honesty.
Read the rest here. Also check out Jules interview with Crocker here.