A review by jengennari
Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban

5.0

California Poppy (What a name!) grabbed me from the first page in this exquisite, completely from the 11-year-old’s perspective story. Her dad has gone fishing to “Alaska,” and she is in the care of first one aunt, and then another. But what preoccupies California is the ghost Aunt Eleanor and ghost dog she meets. Urban so deftly and slowly reveals what’s really going on and ties up all the threads perfectly. I loved too the bits about thank you letters and changing bodies and sex ed.