Hannah Crowley

Durable Goods

Elizabeth Berg

Realistic Fiction

Just Right

Page 42

1. I recently began a new book titled Durable Goods. This book is about a twelve year old girl named Katie. So far this book has mostly been about her life since her mother died. Katie's father hits her and her eighteen year old sister, Diane. Her best friend, Cherylanne just had a party, however, Cherylanne is fourteen so in order to impress her friends Katie feels that she must look mature. To do this she attempts to shave her legs, cutting herself multiple times, then her sister offers to pluck her eyebrows, and finally she borrows her sisters clothing. Katie has been to one of these parties before so she knows about the spin the bottle and kissing that occurs, but it's different this time. Now she feels that it's her turn, her turn to grow up, her turn to learn about boys, and her turn to see what it's like to get your first kiss.

2. I am throughly enjoying this book. I like that it is from the perspective of a girl only a year younger than me because I can relate to all of her experiences, except for her life at home. Her life at home is very different from mine but that also makes it more interesting, for example she has a sister and I have two brothers, and also she's growing up without a mom and an abusive father which is the opposite of me so it's nice to read something different then what I'm used to.

3. I think the main theme is this book so far is hidden love. I see this in her father, he hits her but from what she has said about him apologizing once in awhile and how he buys her everything on her list on christmas, I think that he really does love her and her sister he just doesn't know how to show it. Also, at one point Katie admits that she wants her sister's boyfriend to fall in love with her, which she keeps hidden because her sister would want to destroy her if she did that.

4. My favorite character so far would probably have to be Katie. She has a very large imagination and she believes in everything she wants. For a twelve year old she seems to be good at keeping both her older and younger parts of her open.

5. My least favorite character is Katie's dad. I don't know how anyone can live with an abusive father. He seems so unreasonably mean and nasty.

6. I think that the next step in my book is going to be Katie starting to get a handle on life. Since she has been talking about running away so much I think that that might be her next move and the book is going to be about her finding a new life and trying to figure out who she wants to be.