“It's a cold, hard, cruel fact that my mother loved heroin more than she loved me." Holly is in her fifth foster home in two years and she's had enough. She's run away before and always been caught quickly. But she's older and wiser now--she's twelve--and this time she gets away clean. Holly's diary entries, which include poetry, unspool as ongoing conversations with Ms. Leone. Van Draanen's portrayal of Holly's situation is gravely realistic, though some of Holly's entries seem too perfectly written for a poorly educated 12-year-old. Still, readers will be drawn to Holly as she shifts between her search for a safe place to live, her anger at the foster care system and her reflections on the circumstances that led up to her mother's overdose.

ISBN: 9780440421092