This middle grades book was a $2 find at our school’s last Scholastic book sale, and I knew I couldn’t pass it up!
Nicolette has been in the foster system since her father was incarcerated and her grammy died. She’s been through five foster homes but always finds herself back at the Center because she doesn’t “stick.” Then the US Marshall’s show up with an interesting proposition: they are looking for kids willing to go into witness protection with a family to change their searchable profile. Nicolette, now named Charlotte, joins the Trevor family who is on the run from a crime syndicate family. Now she has to bond with her new parents, find a way to keep her new sullen younger brother from contacting his old friends, and keep her old kleptomaniac habits hidden so she doesn’t get sent away again.
This was a very well done book and has a lot of elements that would make middle grade kids enjoy it. There’s a spunky lead who seems to outsmart those around her (even the adults). There’s the suspense and threat of danger without overdoing the violence. There’s the friend-dynamic of Charlotte trying to make new friends at school while trying to deflect the mean girl comments. Overall, it was a very relatable book for upper elementary and middle schoolers (which is easy to understand when you read the author’s bio and find out he’s a current 5th grade teacher himself). And parents will enjoy that the content is clean without any cursing or intimate situations.
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