You May Already Be A Winner

You May Already Be A Winner

Juvenile fiction
"Every morning Mom did this.
She would say Berk isn't going to daycare because of a cough, or
Berkeley had a long night, or because Mom was running late, but
really, Berkeley hadn't been to daycare for weeks and I hadn't been to
school in just as long."
Olivia (12), protagonist of Ann Dee Ellis' You May Already Be A
Winner, has had to grow up much too fast and assume adult
responsibilities. Her father has taken off. Her mom has her stay
home to take care of her little sister when she's working house
cleaning jobs. Berkeley had missed the kindergarten cut off date by a
few days.
Olivia knows that there's the very real danger of the wrong
people learning her family's secret. But she remains an optimist.
She remembers the good days when her family was together and believes
they aren't just a thing of the past. She keeps trying to get in
touch with her dad.
Olivia has even more big dreams than reuniting her family. She
doesn't like to see Berkeley growing in a decrepit trailer park. She
hates her mother having to work so hard she doesn't have time or
energy to parent. So she enters as many contests as she can discover.
"My favorite part of entering was when the contest said this one
thing: You May Already Be A Winner. It made me think that somewhere,
probably somewhere fancy like New York City or Paris, someone was
holding a big old suitcase of cash with my name all typed in gold, or
maybe on a tropical island where it never snowed and where the air
smelled like coconuts was a house that was made especially for me,
decorated in green and purple, my favorite colors."
Sadly, Olivia's faith that things will work out is going to be
seriously tested. Read the book to see what happens.
On a personal note, it's lilac season. Penobscot County, Maine is
adorned in shades of purple. The kitchen is sweetly perfumed from the
one's Eugene picked me. We worked in the community garden last
night. I came home with spinach and beet greens. I have a tooth
that's bugging me. I'm treating it with salt water. I'm working
really hard to earn my tuition and can't afford a dentist. The price
of American exceptionalism.
A great big shout out goes out to my precious daughter, Amber, who
turned 28 yesterday, and her soul mate fiancée, Brian, who celebrated
with her.
jules hathaway


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