SEMIPRECIOUS by D. Anne Love
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  6/20/06
    Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry
    Reviewed by:  Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Garnet Hubbard is having a fairly good summer and is even excited about the prospect of entering seventh grade in the
    fall. Her life in Mirabeau, Texas, is filled with family and friends. All of that changes overnight.

    Self-centered Melanie Hubbard, Garnet's mother, decides to seek her fortune as a country singer in Nashville. Because
    Garnet's father works on an oil tanker in the Gulf, Garnet and her sister are dropped off at Aunt Julia's when their
    mother runs off. The two girls begin life on their spinster aunt's lonely homestead outside the dusty Oklahoma town of
    Willow Flats.

    Life in Willow Flats is dull and boring. School starts with pretty, popular Opal fitting right in, while Garnet's days are
    filled with teasing and taunting from the locals. News of an accident on the oil tanker and their father's serious injury
    creates worry for an already stressed Garnet. And when his disability checks never seem to arrive, Aunt Julia must
    resort to selling prized possessions and seeking help from welfare to keep the girls fed and clothed.

    D. Anne Love does a superb job describing Garnet's frustration toward her absent mother, her attempts to fit in as part
    of Willow Flats, and the discovery of previously hidden talents and future dreams. Garnet's story will tug at the
    heartstrings of anyone who has suffered disappointments from those they love and found the courage to carry on
    despite them.
Semiprecious
by D. Anne Love