Returnable Girl (pages 1-46)

(Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010)

Returnable Girl by Pamela Lowell

Summary:
Veronica Hartman, also as known as Ronnie, has been returned nine times between the ages of eleven and thirteen. Right now, she is living with her foster mom, Alison Hauser who is also a therapist. Ronnie’s real mom moved to Alaska with her two other sons and her boyfriend Kenny. Ronnie was left behind, and she is waiting for her mom to get a good amount of money so she can be with her again. In September, Ronnie starts going to Liberty Middle School and is in the eighth grade. She only has one friend, named Cat and she is known as a loser because she is weird and fat. There are three popular girls, who are Paige, Sarika and Britnee. Ronnie desperately wants to be friends with them and become one of the popular girls. One day, Paige, who belongs in a rich family, received a real Tiffany necklace for her birthday. She brings it to school, showing it off and everyone is fascinated by it. She had a line for other girls to see it and hold it. Ronnie and Cat lined up wanting to see it. Cat was before Ronnie, so when it was Cat’s turn, Paige turned her down. Moreover, since Ronnie hangs with Cat, she was turned down as well. Next period was gym class. Ronnie told her gym teacher she had cramps and wanted to go to the nurse. She stopped by the lockers, looked through Paige’s things and found the necklace. She wore it and looked in the mirror, but someone was coming in so she had to put it away immediately. She placed it in Cat’s shoes. When Paige looked through her things, she realized her necklace was missing and automatically knew someone stole it. The teacher came in, and suspected it was Ronnie because she left the class. She did not want to get in trouble, so she told the teacher it was Cat. Midge, who is in charge of putting foster children into families found a new place for Ronnie. Ronnie thinks it is near where Paige lives, a nice and rich neighborhood so she said she‘d go. When she arrived at the family’s house, she realized it was Lancaster. Lancaster was her previous home, where she was in trouble for stealing. Luckily, Alison agreed to take Ronnie back when she did not want to move.

Quote:

“It’s Midge. She says she’s found a permanent foster family who wants to . . . meet you” (Lowell 27).

Reaction:

Ronnie has heard that line many times. She is tired of moving from foster home to foster home. For once, she is excited about moving because she thinks this home will be near Paige, in a rich neighborhood. Once she realizes its back in Lancaster, all her old memories come back and refuses to get out of the car. I feel bad for Ronnie, because she had to move family to family nine times in two years. It is already bad enough that her mom left her to Alaska, but took her two brothers. When I read this quote, I thought Ronnie would be devastated because she and Alison were starting to get along great.