The story of Queenie Peavy will stick with you. Poor Queenie has a father in the penitentiary and a mother slaving away at the local cannery. Queenie herself can barely stay out of trouble. Times are hard in Cotton Junction, Georgia so she protects herself by carrying a large chip on her shoulder. Anger constantly bubbles beneath her tough-as-nails exterior. Papa was found guilty of armed robbery and despite the truth behind the taunting, Queenie wants to hurt anyone who speaks of her dad. To further hide her pain she aims and shoots her hatred as easily and quickly as the rocks she is constantly throwing. She can hit any target without remorse. It takes the threat of being sent to a reformatory school to set Queenie down a different path. For one day she is determined to be a good girl, but how can she stay on that path when she has been the tough-as-mails girl for so long? Is she destined to always be a trouble maker? Burch paints a realistic picture of a girl trying to make her way during the Great Depression. I thought this would make a great movie! ( )

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0590087541/ref=rdr_ext_tmb - My cover mostly orange, but don't have access to a camera right now.

Not a bad book, but a little implausible, and a little didactic. The kind of book I would have enjoyed when I was about 11 or 12, as Queenie surely is a noble spirit and an audacious character. What's most cool is how casually integrated this community is - it's apparently pre- Jim Crow and we're not even 100% sure what 'race' Queenie is (though we do know she has both white and Negro friends). ( )

I read this book many years ago, as a youth, and wanted to read it again. Lo and behold, there was a copy at a used book sale, so I bought it and reread it.

I would recommend it as a good book, about believable characters in difficult situations. It was definitely worth reading. However, I've given my copy away to a mother of four at our church. ( )