Emily's parents have divorced. Emily is living with her mother in Rancho Rosetta. Her mother is forcing her to play summer volleyball. Oh, the unfairness of things. Cheer up, Emily, because help is on the way in the guise of one Millicent Min and her family. Stanford Wong even makes more than one appearance. By the end of the novel, Emily has made some new friends and decided that Rancho Rosetta will not be the end of the world.
Lisa Yee's warm humor shines through this story of dealing with parents' divorce, with an embarrassing mother, with new school and new friends, and so much of the day to day angst that is being a tween. The story, most of it related through Emily's letters to her now absent father, moves briskly. Yee tells a familiar story, true, but with her own unique take. Considering the fact that many of our kids come from split families, this is a book that should be required for any intermediate/middle school collection.
