Fern is the youngest girl in a family of four. She has an older sister (Sara) and brother (Holden) and a younger brother (Charlie). She feels invisible most of the time and is pretty sure the only two family members who pay attention to her at all are Holden (her best friend in the family) and Charlie (who pesters her like nobody's business). Her dad runs a restaurant/ice cream parlor and is always dragging them into embarrassing situations because of it (their Christmas card one year had them dressed like elves. ELVES!) and her mom spends more time meditating than anything else, so she's pretty sure she's spending more time raising Charlie than anyone else. And then everything changes.

I went into this book knowing nothing about it. Since I read Jumping Off Swings, all I need to know about a book that Jo Knowles has written isthat it's a book Jo Knowles has written. I think that's probably for the best in this case because I think it would've made me hesitate to read it. (I read it in late February, close to the anniversary of my dad's death. Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to read sad things now.)

Even so, this is an amazing, wonderful book. It will break your heart, but it's worth it. I spent a lot of the second half of the book crying, but I also smiled and laughed, too. So while, yes, it's not the happiest of books, it's definitely worth the tears.

I love Jo Knowles' books because they're real and they address things that need to be addressed. We don't live in a perfect, shiny world and horrible things happen all the time. And we cry and our hearts are broken but we go on. Her books are for survivors, as hideously cliched as that sounds.

Highly recommended (as are all her books).