Summary
Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 3 to 6
This heartwarming, coming of age story is the perfect book for middle school girls. Featuring a strong female character named Ratchet, who identifies as a motherless daughter, this relatable story with its illustrated format is particularly suited for 9-12 year old kids who love graphic novels.
If only getting a new life were as easy as getting a new notebook. But it's not.
It's the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I'm homeschooled. That means nothing new. No new book bag, no new clothes, and no friends--old or new. The best I've got is this notebook. I'm supposed to use it for my writing assignments, but my dad never checks. Here's what I'm really going to use it for:
Ratchet's Top Secret Plan
Project Goal: turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless, motherless life into something shiny and new.
"I cannot imagine a middle grade classroom or library where this book wouldn't be popular."--Colby Sharp, teacher and co-founder of Nerdy Book Club
"One of the freshest new voices I've heard in a while...this debut novel is a winner."--Augusta Scattergood, Author of GLORY BE, an Amazon Best Middle Grade Novel of 2012
"A book that is full of surprises...Triumphant enough to make readers cheer; touching enough to make them cry."--Kirkus, STARRED Review
Great for parents, librarians and educators looking for:
An illustrated format for middle grade readers, especially for reluctant readers and those who love graphic novels
A narrative featuring environmentalism and a positive view on activism for kids
A story featuring a strong female character
A heartwarming story that combines coming of age and accepting one's identity
A Florida Book Awards Gold Medalist
A Black-Eyed Susan Book Award nominee
A South Carolina Book Awards nominee
A Maine Student Book Award title
A Green Prize for Sustainable Literature winner
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award nominee
Publisher's Weekly Review
Eleven-year-old Ratchet records her observations, complaints ("Everything in my life is old and recycled"), worries, and goals ("To be a girl who fits in-hopefully one with a friend") in a series of writing exercises for her language arts "class" (she's homeschooled by her single father) in Cavanaugh's debut novel. But fitting in is difficult for a girl nicknamed after a mechanic's tool, who doesn't have a mother, doesn't attend a "real" school, and spends her days helping her "crazy environmentalist" father fix cars. Worse, her father's outspoken political views have won him the wrong kind of publicity around town, and his battle to save Moss Tree Park from becoming a strip mall looks like a lost cause. Cavanaugh uses bold, often humorous first-person narration to capture the essence of an unconventional heroine struggling to figure out who she is supposed to be. Ratchet's journal-written on lined paper and filled with a medley of lists, poems, stories, essays, and doodles-offers an enticing blend of strong social views, family secrets, and deeply felt emotions. Ages 9-up. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Leavell Literary Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In journal entries and poems, eleven-year-old Ratchet (Rachel) expresses her exasperation with her outspoken activist dad; her desire to know more about her deceased mother; and her desperate need for friends. The clichi of the friendless, isolated homeschooler will annoy actual homeschooled readers, but others will be drawn to Ratchet's plight and her eventual understanding of her dad's great traits. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Rachel Ratchet Vance is an 11-year-old girl, homeschooled by her widowed, activist father. Ratchet is embarrassed by her father's often confrontational environmentalism, the fact that she knows more about fixing cars than creating a wardrobe, and that they move each year from one fixer-upper to the next. Desperate to lay down roots, make friends, and simply live a normal life, Ratchet hopes to discover her own identity by learning more about her mother and ultimately changing herself for the better. The book's journal format, which shows Ratchet writing in various styles as she completes her language arts assignments, allows debut author Cavanaugh to cover a lot of ground thematically. Ratchet is a thoroughly relatable character whose wish for normalcy will strike a chord with readers. She is an honest narrator, relying on the secrecy of her journal (she has no worries that her father will read it, despite it being homework) to reveal her fears, doubts, and eventual hope for her weird, wonderful life with Dad. --Dean, Kara Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
An 11-year-old home-schooled girl who longs to live like everyone else learns that her strange life with her father may be weird, but it's also wonderful. Ratchet, whose real name is Rachel, lives with her father, a "crazy environmentalist," who believes that he has a God-given mission to save the Earth. In consequence, Ratchet, who lost her mom when she was 5, wears thrift-shop clothing and helps her father repair cars in their driveway. This makes her both an able mechanic and a magnet for the derision of the neighborhood kids. Ratchet longs to go to school, to buy cute clothing and, most significantly, to make a friend. In a book that is full of surprises, it turns out that assisting her protest-junkie father in his court-ordered community service as a go-cartbuilding instructor is the catalyst she needs. This is how she will find female helpers and role models, make a friend and even save a little piece of the world. The story has a gimmick; it consists entirely of entries in the language-arts notebook Ratchet uses to record her home-school assignments. At first it seems artificial, with observations that are too on-the-nose. But as the novel's unexpectedly multifaceted plot comes together, it becomes increasingly compelling, suspenseful and moving. Triumphant enough to make readers cheer; touching enough to make them cry. (Fiction. 9-13)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Writing Exercise: Write about your life.
Writing Format--FREEWRITING: Writing openly and freely on any topic.
Everything in my life is old and recycled.
* The kitchen table and chairs--Salvation Army.
* Living room furniture--AMVETS.
* TV--Motel 8's going out of business giveaway.
Even worse, I look like I belong in a museum of what not to wear with my Goodwill store clothes.
Dad's motto: "If the Good Lord wanted us to throw everything away, he would've put a Dumpster right outside the Garden of Eden."
I want to say, "Not likely, Dad"; but I don't argue with him. Especially when he's talking about the Good Lord.
Even so, I wish we'd lose all this junk so we could start over. Because it's hard to look good in faded T-shirts that are too big. Jean shorts that are out of style. And my blond hair with no style at all thanks to coupons at Super Snips.
Today could be a day to start over. It's the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I'm homeschooled. That means nothing new.
*No new book bag.
*No new clothes.
*No new shoes.
*No friends--new or old.
Just Dad and me and a bunch of smelly old textbooks from the library book sale. And a garage full of broken-down cars that need fixing.
So I sit at the chipped and dented kitchen table doing my assignments. Wishing I were in a real classroom. With real classmates. And a real teacher.
A teacher who says, "Good morning," and smiles.
A teacher who reads my assignments and writes "Great job!" and "Way to go!" on my papers with glitter pens and funky colored markers.
Dad just glances at my work without really reading it. I know he doesn't really read it because one time for a social studies paper I wrote, "Abraham Lincoln's nose is bigger than his hat," two hundred times. Dad put a check mark at the top of the paper and wrote, "Keep the engine running!"
It was proof that Dad did not really read my work and even more proof that Dad is really out there somewhere on some automotive planet all his own because who would write, "Keep the engine running!" on top of a paper about Abraham Lincoln?
As long as I do my homeschool work, Dad thinks he's being a great teacher.
Dad's out in the garage yelling, "Ratchet!"
I don't think he's ever called me by my real name, Rachel. At least not since I can remember. Says I've always reminded him of a ratchet the way my help makes all his jobs easier.
I've been fixing cars with him since I was six.
Dad yells again, "I could use a hand out here!"
So I'll put down my pencil, even though I hate to because it's new. It's real wood. (Not the fake plastic kind.) Purple sparkles. A super sharp point. And a perfect eraser. But I'll put it down anyway and go out to the garage and hand Dad tools for the rest of the afternoon.
What would I rather be doing? Getting off a real school bus with some real school friends after a real day of school.
What will I be doing? Maybe a brake job or a transmission flush or a fan belt replacement. Hopefully not another oil change. My hands are finally almost clean from the one we did last week.
None of the things an ordinary eleven-year- old girl should be doing. But when your nickname is Ratchet, you're not an ordinary girl.
Excerpted from This Journal Belongs to Ratchet by Nancy J. Cavanaugh All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
