Best Girl - Hardcover

Grade 5-8-- "Nealy Compton was not under Mrs. Dees's house the night it burned." This is the beginning to a poignant tale that certainly fulfills its promise, although in a quieter fashion than one might expect from its dramatic opening. No one knows of the girl's refuge in the crawl space under the house, of the books, the drawing pad and pencils she keeps there. And the stolen music box. The night of the fire, Nealy is quick to alert the firefighters of her neighbor's absence, but it's a long night and day before she finds her treasures, soot-covered but intact. Still the tragedy touches her in other ways, most painfuly in Mrs. Dees's sudden, inexplicable animosity. When a friend of the woman's recognizes Nealy's hurt and takes the time to know her, he sets in motion a healing force that touches--and ultimately changes--Mrs. Dees and Nealy's bitter, troubled mother as well. Readers' hearts will go out to this child, so bright and interesting and loving, and so inexcusably unloved. Smith explores her character through internal musings and external relationships. For the most part, secondary characters are developed only insofar as they touch and illuminate the child's life. Through Nealy's attempts to reconcile her sister and mother, through her longing for the affections of her dead grandmother, through her imaginary nature videos of mother animals reaching out and gathering in their young, and, above all, through her pitiful attempts to remain in her mother's good graces, Smith reveals a child as willing to love as she is painfully eager to be loved. That Mrs. Dees warms to her in the end is heartwarming and right. That her abusive mother softens, as well, is a bit harder to credit. But, despite these telltale traces of sentimentality, the human dynamics are on-target. Readers will find Nealy's story hopeful and involving, her character one with whom they can readily identify--and grow. --Marcia Hupp, Mamaroneck Pub. Lib. , NY
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Drawing on the experience of having her own home gutted by fire, then restored with the help of friends, an author known for her incisive and compassionate portraits of troubled children (Return to Bitter Creek, 1986) portrays an 11-year-old whose friendship with the woman next door grows out of a similar set of events. Nealy doesn't want to be her bitter mother's ``best girl''; but with kind Grandma dead, rebellious sister Noel, 14, locked out for a minor misdemeanor, and Dad (a police officer) turning up only for emergencies, compliance to Mama's unreasonable demands seems her only recourse; even so, Nealy is frequently scolded or slapped. She takes comfort in her artwork and her care for living things (ironically, Mama works for the ``Department of Natural Resources'') and finds refuge under Mrs. Dees's porch, next door, where she keeps a few treasures--her drawings, field guides, a box of Grandma's. When an arsonist burns Mrs. Dees's house, Nealy is an obvious suspect, at least to the distraught owner; but as willing friends pitch in to help restore the house, Nealy finds an ally in Hobby, who's giving Mrs. Dees shelter and finds a number of ways Nealy can help her too. Ultimately, Nealy finds the real culprit; more important, Mrs. Dees (a potter) discovers Nealy's artistic talent and warms to her young neighbor, while the post-fire events lead to some healthy, and believable, changes in Nealy's family's dynamics. Adroit plotting, a brisk pace, the offbeat scenario, and well- individualized characters add up to an unusually thoughtful and appealing novel. (Fiction. 9-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.