Review: Rabble Starkey

Rabble Starkey by Lois Lowry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rabble is twelve years old and has endured a lot in her short life.  Her mom left her to live with her grandmother until her grandmother died.  Now she lives with her mother and although it isn’t an easy life, she has a great friend to brighten her days.  Rabble wants a stable life and starts to get that, but then her mom’s boss has a mental breakdown and leaves for the hospital, Rabble and her mom move into the big house to help out more.  As time passes, Rabble begins to feel a part of a family she never had … but will this last?  What will happen when the woman of the house returns?

Rabble Starkey is a stand-alone realistic fiction story that is written for young readers and will leave them thinking hard about some serious issues.  The original story was written in 1987, yet the story could easily be taking place in the present day.  Lowry has created a small cast of characters with their own strengths and flaws and most readers will be able to relate to one if not many characters.  The ending is kind of anticlimactic, but sometimes that is what life is like.  Readers will have mixed feelings about the ending, though.  

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