Monday, October 28, 2019

Review: Beverly, Right Here, by Kate DiCamillo

Last year I reviewed Kate DiCamillo's Lousiana's Way Home, a companion book to Raymie Nightingale. Recently, I read her latest novel, Beverly, Right Here, another companion book that completes the trilogy about three friends.

Beverly, Right Here takes place when the girls are fourteen years old. Here's the blurb:

Revisiting once again the world of Raymie Nightingale, two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo turns her focus to the tough-talking, inescapably tenderhearted Beverly.

Beverly put her foot down on the gas. They went faster still. This was what Beverly wanted — what she always wanted. To get away. To get away as fast as she could. To stay away.

Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it’s not running away. It’s leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mom, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn’t want to depend on anyone, and she definitely doesn’t want anyone to depend on her. But despite her best efforts, she can’t help forming connections with the people around her — and gradually, she learns to see herself through their eyes. In a touching, funny, and fearless conclusion to her sequence of novels about the beloved Three Rancheros, #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo tells the story of a character who will break your heart and put it back together again.


This story, like Louisiana, is classic DiCamillo, full of quirky, broken characters that manage to find one another and find a degree of healing through the power of community. It's poignant, terribly sad, and full of hope. DiCamillo's short sentences at first stood out to me, but quickly fell into a gentle yet compelling rhythm, reminiscent of the seaside setting. I loved this book and will definitely be re-reading with an eye to "how does she do that?!" Highly recommended.

Beverly, Right Here is out now from Candlewick Press.

1 comment:

Amanda Hoving said...

This is already on my holds list at the library - glad to hear you enjoyed it!