Love Aubrey

Love Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur was recommended to me by my little reader-junkie daughter who is going into 4th grade.  It was funny to hear her tell me about the book as she was reading it; a girl is left at home all alone to take care of herself.  "Honey, there is no way a little girl could be at home by herself, someone would know, " I say.  "She was... her dad and sister die in an accident and her mom leaves," she urges.  I felt compelled to read the story after that to alleviate any fears of abandonment but she was right, that's exactly how this book begins.

Aubrey is left alone after a tragic car accident taking her dad and sister and then her mom goes off her rocker and just leaves poor Aubrey to defend for herself who manages, to feed herself, go shopping by herself etc.  But don't worry, that's just the beginning. 

The real meat of the story is when her grandmother finds her in that state and snatches her up and takes her home and the relationship they develop.  Aubrey has to learn to trust adults and make new friends and what it means to open up and deal with one of lifes tragedies.  My favorite aspect of this book is by far the ending.... the choices she is asked to make and the grace with which she does.  A wonderful girl story about loss and  discovering yourself. 

Grade Recommendation:  I wouldn't recommend this below 3rd grade even as a read aloud because of the very real death of family members.  It could be a touch subject for some.  I think easily up through 6th grade would enjoy this novel and possibly 7th (younger character).  Students often don't like to read about characters younger than themselves but they miss a lot of great books because of it.

Read Aloud:  Love Aubrey does a fantastic job dealing with the loss of family members and how it's okay if everything isn't okay immediately but that it can be.... I don't know if I would read it if anyone has directly lost a family member but it would be excellent for friends of individuals who have suffered loss to explain how difficult it is for them to open up and talk about it with others.

Mentor Text:  The ending by far.  I love how the ending is not what we expected it to be but allowed the main character to really make some grown up decisions.  You could almost summarize the whole book and get down to the last chapter and then talk about possible choices and they would affect the feeling of the story.