Beverly, Right Here
by Kate DiCamillo
read by Jorjeana Marie
Listening Library (Penguin Random House), 2019. 4 hours on 4 compact discs.
Review written February 12, 2020, from a library audiobook
Beverly, Right Here is the third book featuring one of the three friends introduced in the book Raymie Nightingale, this one featuring Beverly Tapinski, still in Florida in the 70s.
I was happy to spend time with Beverly, and I love the quirky characters of Kate DiCamillo’s world, especially Ayola, the old lady Beverly befriends.
However, I thought this book was sad and depressing. It begins as Beverly runs away, or as she puts it, leaves. Her dog Buddy has died, and her mother doesn’t care where she is. This book takes place a few years after the others, and Beverly is now fourteen years old. Her plan is to leave for good.
It’s sad to me that Beverly really doesn’t have compelling reasons to go back. But it seemed wildly unrealistic that the first place she walks into, she finds a job willing to not ask questions and pay her under the table. What’s more, she finds a place to live near that job.
I’m happy for Beverly things go so well, and it does make a wonderful story. But I sure do hope that kids reading it don’t think running away would go so well for them.
I did enjoy this audiobook and especially the friends Beverly made. But it made me sad for Beverly, and I was glad it was short. (It’s getting close to a young adult novel, since Beverly needs a job and a place to live. But it’s more the length of a children’s novel, and that fits better with the other two books.)
katedicamillo.com
listeninglibrary.com
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