GREAT READS

Made in the U.S.A.

Billie Letts.

Having enjoyed Billie Letts' first novel, Where the Heart Is, so much, I thought I would try another one by this author.  Incidentally, Made in the U.S.A. starts out at WalMart also, but is mainly about two children from South Dakota who take off on their own to find their father in Las Vegas. Lutie and Fate (fifteen and eleven) now have to find ways to survive in a big city with no resources, no money and no one to help them.  At times, my heart would just break for them and other times I just wanted to shake some sense into Lutie as they are faced with harsh realities of life. The reader, Cassandra Morris, does a wonderful job.  She captures the children's voices so well that I just loved listening to Fate speak; but she also made all the adults who came into their lives realistic, especially a Mexican circus family.  I so enjoyed her reading voice that I found some other CD Books read by her: Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult and Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (a Young Adult story).

Recommended by Frieda Jack