Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo

Image: Candlewick Press

Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo. 256 p. Candlewick Press, September 24, 2019. 9780763694647. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday TMS readers! How's your summer reading going as we head into the second week of summer break?

Middle Grade Monday features Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo. Fans of DiCamillo first met Beverly in Raymie Nightingale. She became Raymie's friend along with Louisiana Elefante. You may remember that Louisiana got her own story from a past Middle Grade Monday featuring Louisiana's Way Home. Now it's Beverly's turn. 

Beverly may talk tough but she has a tender heart. She has buried Buddy, her beloved dog, under an orange tree in her backyard and is running away from a mother who might not even notice she's gone. She hitches a ride with a creepy cousin and ends up in a beach town, where she finds a job bussing tables in a fish restaurant. She bunks with a friendly, little, old lady in a trailer park. 

She doesn't want to make connections, but she does. 

This brief, beautiful novel brims with heart and is filled with memorable characters and absolutely lovely writing. Beverly is the prickliest of the Three Rancheros. In Beverly, Right Here, readers will grow to appreciate and love her. Beverly's life is complicated and will probably never be easy, but there is hope.

Beverly, Right Here is due out September 24 giving you time to read Raymie Nightingale and Louisiana's Way Home!