To say this book is quirky and folksy doesn't actually cover just how quirky and folksy this book is. No wonder it is a Newbery Honor book. It is a chockablock full of cute similes and metaphors. And the main character is the most precocious girl in the town. Mo (Moses) LoBeau was found by the Colonel during a hurricane when she was a baby floating on a billboard sign. Raised by him and Miss Lana, Mo grows up writing to her Upstream Mother and putting messages in bottles in the hopes that she will find her. Mo is a feisty girl and when someone in town is murdered and the Colonel starts acting suspicious, Mo and her best friend Dale start a detective agency to figure out who done it and protect her family.
I actually enjoyed this book a lot. Like I said it is very quirky and folksy but once you get past that it is a great book. I think it helps that listened to it on audio. Michal Friedman does a great job of bringing Mo to life. She does a great North Carolina accent and I found myself struggling not to pronounce words like she does while listening to this book.
It's hard to classify this one. It's set up like a mystery but at the same time it's definitely a coming-of-age story. By trying to solve the mystery, Mo learns a lot about families and sometimes it's not about the family you have, but the family you make.
8 hours
Great review. SO glad you liked it. I loved this one.
ReplyDeleteIt was a really fun book and I love the ending. I was glad that the Colonel and Miss Lana's relationship was explained because that was driving me crazy.
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