Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Get Happy by Mary Amato - OPTIONAL



Amato, Mary  Get Happy, 244 pgs.  Egmont, 2014.  $16.99  Content: Language: PG; Violence: G; Mature Content: PG.  

Minerva and her best friend Fin get a job at a party place called Get Happy where they dress up and entertain young kids.  Minerva hits it off with a new boy named Hayes and she helps him with his bucket list.  Minerva is also working to raise money to buy herself a ukulele which she has wanted forever.  The real conflict comes when Minerva intercepts a letter for her birthday from her dad whom she hasn’t seen since she was two.  Minerva starts to investigate who her father is and learns that what her mother has been telling her about her dad isn’t true.   

I was excited to read this book because I loved Guitar Notes by the same author, but this book fell short.  First, the mother’s motives for keeping Minerva’s father away were confusing.  Second, the ending was abrupt and unresolved, making the conflict have no resolution.  Third, it was depressing and there wasn't enough ending to give it a hopeful twist.  Overall, I was disappointed.  It wasn’t a horrible book and the content is clean, but in the end it felt unfinished.   

MS, HS-OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.    

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