This Journal Belongs to Ratchet
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.” Grades 4-7. --Kara Dean