this book won a newberry honor award and had me almost to the end.
a pre-teen girl with an autistic brother is so eager to be 'normal' that she omits some details of her life to a new friend. in that way, it was so believable and relatable for the jr fiction crowd, but it ends with way too much recrimination and guilt.
personally, i don't think the new friend had any right to her righteousness. their friendship is new, and untested, and this new girl has yet to show any loyalty toward the main character or her brother. it's not fair that the main character is saddled with all that guilt