Gotta a loilapaloozer here and not a vampire in sight.
Delly Pattison was born with a smile on her face and a love of life in her heart. For her every day is a "surpresent" which in Delly-speak is a present that is a surprise. Wouldn't we all love to get one of those? For her first six years Delly greets the day with joy and the hope that a surpresent is on its way and sometimes she helps them along like the day she helped herself to Mrs. Silcox's brownies or the day she set all the chickens free from their cages at the County Fair. By age seven she's number one on Officer Tibbitts ten most wanted kids list and by age eleven, the nocussictionary is a thing of the past and the smile has been wiped from Delly's face and replaced with a feeling deep inside that she is bad, badder, baddest and she doesn't even know why. To fill in that hole, Delly turns to mad, madder, maddest and is willing to fight anyone who crosses her path the wrong way. At least then when she's sent to detention in the state of Alaska on the chalk drawn map of the United States that graces the school playground, she understands why she's there. Into this world comes Ferris Boyd, a girl who could be and is mistaken for a boy; a girl who will not speak; a girl who though existing in a world where she too is told in the harshest possible ways that she is worthless, has the power and the willingness to open her heart to others. Katherine Hannigan has created a world with the boundaries formed by those whose hearts and minds are small. The cast of characters includes the hopeful Brud with a stammer; the heartwarmingly worshipful little brother, RB; the angry spiteful older sister, Galveston; the sinister man in the Green Impala; and the gentle, accepting teacher, Mr. Terwilliger. Some of the things that happen to these innocent children are enough to make anyone say a few well chosen bawlgrammits, chizzles and shikes and a whole lot more. In this place of broken hearts just how much healing and hope is possible? Is this truly a world of Dellyventures and Mysturiosities? Welcome to Dellaferbia...you'll find it on the map of your heart. You may never want to leave. 359 pages Ages 9 and up
