Review: South of Somewhere

By Kalena Miller

Chicago, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 2024. Fiction. 282 pages.

This book opens as, Mavis (she would like you to know her name is French), her two siblings, and her father return home from a trip to Hawaii. Her mom says that she's going to take a cab since there isn't room for all of their stuff plus her in the car. When Mavis' car pulls up to their neighborhood, however, they find that the FBI is raiding their house and their mom has skipped town after being accused of embezzlement. With all of their accounts frozen, Mavis and her family have no where to go but the house of her father's long-estranged sister, who has never even met Mavis and her siblings. As Mavis struggles with losing her friends, babysitting her 4-year-old cousin, moving from downtown Chicago to a tiny suburb town, and caring for her pet pineapple, Mavis tries to come to terms with where her mom could be and whether or not she could truly have committed the crime for which she's accused.

The subject matter has the potential to feel very heavy, but Miller does a good job of keeping up the pace and adding enough humor to make this a fun read. Hand this to any kid who loves contemporary realistic fiction and they're bound to have a good time.

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