This Journal Belongs to Ratchet #BookReview

I’m letting my tween take over today with her summer reading series, The Catcher in the Book… enjoy! XOXO 

Happy Thursday! This week I’m sharing my thoughts on the book, This Journal Belongs to Ratchet.  This book is an easy read, it’s written in a journal format (actually, each journal entry is a writing exercise as part  of Ratchet’s homeschooling).

Homeschooled and motherless Ratchet (Rachel) dreams of having friends and wearing nicer clothes.  She spends her days working countless hours in her Dad’s garage fixing cars, which isn’t the place for fancy clothes.  She tries to make friends but her Goodwill fashion and ability to change a tire under 10 minutes doesn’t impress the other girls.  Along with her worrying if she’ll ever make friends, she also wants to learn more about her mother.  Her Dad has been tight-lipped when her mother is brought up, she wants to know more.  She wonders if she is like her mother and makes it her duty to find out more.

Ratchet, is also dealing with her “environment-crazed” father.  He has ruffled quite a few feathers in town with his position on what the mayor needs to do in regard to clearing out land.  This situation gets Ratchet’s dad in trouble.  Ratchet is left working harder in the garage to help her dad, as well as some  surprising new friends.  Her father’s plea to save the land in their area in the end bring the two together, and some good comes out of it 😉

My Thoughts: I loved this book! Ratchet is faced with many burdens most girls our age do not have to deal with, and yet she did it, and in the end she wins. I absolutely enjoyed how the book was written.  I thought the format of this book was original, not the journalling, but the writing exercises. Her journal consisted of different writing forms such as poems, persuasive essays, stories etc.  I liked, that Ratchet’s personality was displayed through her writing assignments, I truly enjoyed her as a character.