Hartinger (Geography Club
) once again gets at the heart of teen dynamics with this tale of 15-year-old Lucy Pitt, who has been in the foster care system for eight years. As the novel opens, she arrives at Kindle Home, known as the Last Chance Texaco, like "those gas stations... [that come] right before a big, barren desert." According to narrator Lucy, the group home is a kid's "last shot to turn things around" before being sent to a prison-like facility derisively nicknamed Eat-Their-Young Island. The premise is unique, and Hartinger creates a strong sense of group home life by breaking down the rules—both those the counselors enforce and those the kids uphold for each other—and with snapshots of such scenes as troubled Roberto having a "meltdown" at dinner and Lucy sorting out her feelings for a boy as she shoots baskets with counselor Leon. The author convincingly portrays Lucy as someone who wants to come across as jaded, but who realizes the run-down mansion is "almost like a real home." The future of that home is jeopardized, however, when someone starts setting neighborhood cars on fire, and the group home kids become primary suspects. While readers will easily empathize with Lucy, other elements of the novel, such as the development of her romance with Nate, a "jock" at her new school, seem fake. Unfortunately, the mystery over the car fires further derails the story from its focus on Lucy's transformation. Ages 14-up. (Feb.)
