Raymie Nightingale

Raymie has a plan to get her father to come home.  He ran away with his dental hygienist girlfriend abandoning Raymie and her mother.  Raymie is bereft, but she knows that if she becomes 1975's Little Miss Central Florida Tire, he will see her picture in the paper and come home.

What's standing in her way?  She doesn't know how to twirl a baton, and everyone knows the surest way to win a beauty pageant is with a baton.

It is at twirling lessons that Raymie meets the no nonsense Beverly Tapinski and the fabulous Louisiana Elefante.  As the story unfolds, the three girls unite to help each other when the adults in their lives aren't available.

Kate DiCamillo's newest novel is a wonderland of characters and revelations that begs to be read aloud.  Read it, and share then share it with the young people in your life.