Review: My Girl

TITLE: My Girl
AUTHOR: Patricia Hermes
PUBLISHER: Pocket Books
PUBLICATION DATE: 1991
FORMAT: Mass Market Paperback
PAGES: 192
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING: 

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): When your Dad's an undertaker, you Mom's in heaven, and your Grandma's got a screw loose...it's good to have a friend who understands you. Even if he is a boy.

Thomas J. is Vada's best friend. They live near enough to each other to bike ride over and play, or even just hang out. The two are always together, sharing their afternoons, their adventures in the lake, and all of their secrets. Then something terrible happens to Thomas J. and Vada has to learn to fill her days without her best friend around.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I have only seen bits and pieces of the movie, never actually watching it all the way through, but I knew a little bit about the story line and when I found the book at a thrift store, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. It's a really short book so it didn't take long to read at all. I enjoyed reading it. It was a quick read to cleanse my palate after reading some longer books. The story was fun but also sad and emotional.

CHARACTERS: The characters in this book seemed very real to me. I could picture these kids running around together. The things they did seems very likely things that kids do. I wasn't a fan of Vada's father though. I understand that he was probably fed up with her hypochondria, but she was obviously fighting for his attention because her mother was gone. I just feel that he could have taken more time with her to explain things and just spend time with her.

COVER: The cover is fine. It's taken from the movie, which the book was actually written after the movie instead of the other way around.