SOLVED. YA Fiction about girl named Harper looking for information on her father. Friends with girl who lives nearby (maybe in a motel?) and I believe they grew up together. Read around 2010-2015. Spoilers.

[Erin]

First read around 2010-2015 but the book itself could have been a little older, checked out from my local library (I live in the US). I’ve searched the library’s catalogue and done extensive online searching with no luck! The cover might be blue, but I could be misremembering.

Plot: A girl named Harper (her mom named her after Harper Lee) was raised by a single mother somewhere around the East Coast who will only tell her that her dad died in the war (pretty sure it was the Vietnam War, but that detail is iffy). She starts trying to learn more about her dad. She is also friends with a girl (I’m pretty sure they were in middle school) and her brother who live nearby, possibly in a motel, and I remember a specific scene in the book of the two girls attending a dance class together when they were little.

SPOILERS:


Harper finds her birth certificate hidden in her mom’s things and I’m pretty sure her birth name wasn’t Harper. Near the end of the book, Harper and her girl friend go on a school field trip to Washington DC and Harper tries to find her dad’s name on a war memorial but can’t find it. Her dad is actually alive and her mother was trying to hide her from him. I think the book ends with Harper disappearing to either search for or go live with her dad and the friend doesn’t see her again.

[Becca]

Faith, Hope, and Chicken Feathers by Andrea Wyman looks like a match

[Erin]

SOLVED!

Wow, you are incredible! Doesn’t look like it’s at my local library anymore, but that’s gotta be it. Thank you!