Book Description
for Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
In a novel for young adults that views issues of love and loss through the lens of girl power, Ruby and her mother have a hard time getting over their respective Bad Choices. Sixteen-year-old Ruby knows that her boyfriend Travis’s risk-taking behavior and psychological manipulation is bad news, but she can’t seem to stop seeing him. And her mom, Ann, knows darn well that her exhusband is never going to come back, but she still primps and cleans and cooks for him when he returns to visit Ruby and her siblings. In order to help Ruby move beyond her obsession with Travis, Ann invites her to join the Casserole Queens, a book club for retirees that she coordinates as town librarian. At first, the group of old ladies (and one incorrigibly naughty old man) seems to have nothing to offer Ruby. But as the group discusses its current selectio , a memoir that chronicles an anguishing love story, it becomes apparent the author’s long lost love just might be one of the members. A crazily optimistic plan to reunite the lost lovers emerges, and Ruby and Ann get a glimpse of what real true love can be in Deb Caletti’s funny, upbeat, satisyfying read. (Ages 13–17)
CCBC Choices 2005 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2005. Used with permission.