SuitabookHelping and responsibility
Molly meets Red during a homeless count and makes it her mission to reunite her with family, while Red resists some offers of help.
Loading your next page
Book details
Sonya Sones - Author
This is a verse novel about two young people whose friendship develops amid homelessness, mental-health difficulties, family strain, disappearance and guilt. Molly’s wish to help Red also prompts her to face her own unresolved pain.
Right before winter break, fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg reluctantly volunteers to participate in Santa Monica's annual homeless count, just to get her school's community service requirement out of the way. But when she ends up meeting Red, a spirited homeless girl only a few years older than she is, Molly makes it her mission to reunite her with her family in time for Christmas. This turns out to be extremely difficult -- because Red refuses to talk about her past. There are things Molly won't talk about either. Like the awful thing that happened last winter. She may never be ready to talk about that. Not to Red, or to Cristo, the soulful boy she meets while riding the Ferris wheel one afternoon.
Book Brief
Sign in to see how this book fits your child and family preferences.
Sign in for personalised guidanceThis is a verse novel about two young people whose friendship develops amid homelessness, mental-health difficulties, family strain, disappearance and guilt. Molly’s wish to help Red also prompts her to face her own unresolved pain.
Molly meets Red during a homeless count and makes it her mission to reunite her with family, while Red resists some offers of help.
Molly has strained parents and guilt concerning her brother, who is described as returning from war with PTSD before disappearing.
Some readers may want support around homelessness, a character experiencing schizophrenia and voices, a brother’s disappearance, war-related PTSD, guilt, strained parents, grief, and romantic uncertainty. The treatment and ending are not fully clear.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: some draft conclusions still depend on unresolved evidence.
Book information
Limited information
Anything not established here remains open; it is not being treated as absent or safe.