Book Review 8: Hershey Herself by Cecilia Galante

Hershey Herself by Cecilia Galante
Published by Aladdin on May 6, 2008
Genres: YA Contemporary
Pages: 336
Source: the library
Format: Paperback
My Rating:
Goodreads

I walk up the back steps and then stand there, waiting for the goosebumps on my arms to go away. They don't. I almost don't go in. But then I think of Baby Ella. And Mom. I push open the door....
When twelve-year-old Hershey must run away with her mother to a women's shelter, she wonders how, among other things, she'll compete in the town talent show with her best friend, Phoebe; who will take care of her cat, Augustus Gloop; and if she'll survive being on a new bus route with her sworn enemy.

I tend to prefer more fantasy or sci fi books. So I wasn’t really looking forward to a more “realistic” book. But as I think back now, many of my favorite books as a kid were realistic books: Harriet the Spy, A Summer to Die, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. So I thought to read Hershey Herself more as if I was a kid. It actually is a pretty good book. Hershey’s mom lives with her boyfriend, Slade. Slade is verbally abusive, and at one time threw a glass that shattered and shards of glass went into one of Hershey’s eyes and messed it up. Her mom left, but shortly after they left, she found out she was pregnant, so she went back to him. There’s no more physical stuff until a couple weeks after Hershey has enacted a scheme her best friend Phoebe helped her come up with to get rid of Slade. Her mother decides now they have to move out, and they go to a women’s shelter. Hershey, her mother, and her little sister Ella must learn to live in this shelter. Hershey meets a mysterious woman named Lupe who teaches her to play the piano. She has issues with her friend, and a bully at school. I know there are probably many kids who might read this book who are in this same type of situation. So I think this would be a good book for them to read. So it turned out to be much better than I first thought.

I’ve started the next book already tonight, it is The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. I’ve actually wanted to read it for awhile since I saw it read by someone else on Goodreads.com.