outside reading book review

Rebecca Towne title: lock and key by: Sarah Dessen genre: fiction 10/6/09
Acell English Published by Viking, a member of Penguin Group in 2008

Ruby Copper has pretty much lived with her alcoholic mother all her life. But one day a couple days before her 18th birthday her mom abandons her. Ruby takes on her job and pays the bills. Although the electricity has been close to shutting off and there is no running water in the yellow house she lives with it. Till one day the landlords come to find out and she is forced to live with her sister, Cora, who she hasn't seen in 10 years. Now with a new school, no friends, and new family ruby has to adjust to her new life. But she can’t leave her old one behind. Ruby goes to her new school and car pools with her cute neighbor, Nate, and an annoying 12 year old who’s a senior, Gervais. She makes a new friend named Olivia who had gone to her old school last year. As she gets closer to Nate she learns they share some of the same problems. She also learns that his dad abuses him. Ruby also finds out where her mother is and what the real story is about why Cora never contacted her after she left for school. She finds out her mother is in rehab and that her mother had moved her so many times and never used her own name so Cora couldn't find ruby and take her to live with her. As weeks turn into months ruby gets used to her new life. Good clothes, an expensive school, and she even got a job. She learns that sometimes you need to back down and be helped sometimes. When she offers a hand to help Nate, he turns her down. But later convinces him to tell someone. They go to Cora, who deals with family issues, and gives him advise and sets him up to go live with his mother until the summer when he’ll work at a camp then go to college.
　
The school library journal states, "Dessen explores the interior and exterior lives of her characters and shows their flaws, humanity, struggles, and incremental successes. This is young adult fiction at its best." on the book jacket.
　
In this book the author uses descriptive word choice. Her sentences are long but also short. She doesn’t use too much dialog. She uses flashbacks. A book that I would compare it to is the sisterhood of the traveling pants series by Ann Brashares. Both of these books don’t have just one main character and they don’t stay at the same setting. They both jump around. Also both books don’t use that much dialog.
　
"I knew I should have been happy to see her- as unlike Nate or Heather, she actually was my friend- but instead I felt strangely uneasy. After all, I’d never even invited her into the yellow house, always providing excuses about my mom needing her sleep or it being a bad time- keeping the personal, well, personal."

I am in love with Sarah Dessen I loved this book so much. It effected me because it has taught me if you are being abused or are abandoned never not take help or even worse, not say anything at all. And always offer help too. What I like about the story is that it's about someone around my age, something that is happening today that I should be aware of, and it is filled with climax which keeps me reading the book. I wish she wrote, or is going to, write a sequel about what happens in the future of when the book leaves you.