Just bought this and will be reading it very soon.

Thanks for passing this book on - it was a pleasant surprise to find it in my mailbox today. Did you read it before sending? The book is in pristine condition. I will read and pass this along soon.

Oh my goodness. I did read this and forgot to do journal entry before passing it on.

Okay, the writing is wonderful, feels like it could have been the voice of a 13 year old telling the story. But, it made me extremely uncomfortable, partly because of the hunger (in many forms), partly because the protagonist is so focused on her goals she comes off as very selfish and greedy. I can understand her greed, but it makes me uncomfortable, as I suppose it should. I wonder if kids reading this really understand this is not pretend, but the actual life of too many teens? Often I thought as I read that this book is meant for adults, and not intermediate readers (ages 8-13) as it is categorized.

This was really a wonderful book. Zmrzlina hits the nail on the head with her review - I don't know if I can elaborate any better. The writing is spot on; at times I could so relate to Raspberry (I hated that characters name, BTW) and her friends. Yes, she comes across as a greedy girl, but one can totally empathise with her reasons.

I noted there is a sequel to this book called "Begging for Change" - there's a sneak peak at the back of the book. I didn't read it, but I am interested to know what happens to Raspberry and her mother so I might source it out, but first I'm gonna try and scale some of Mt TBR.

Thanks for offering this up on relay. I'm glad to have accepted it and I plan to send this off in a bookbox later this month.

This just in, came in a book box from MarciNYC and thanks for a great box. Adding to the TBR pile.