Review: A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day

A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day.

Wendy Lamb Books
Publication Date: April 2011
List Price: $15.99
ISBN-13: 9780385738996

Review: A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day is a good read for anybody, mostly people who have gone through huge changes in their perfect world. The book's main character is Lucy, a girl who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Lucy is just leaving Taylor Elementary school and heading to David Middle School for seventh grade. To take the stress off of a new school, she goes to Pierson Point up in Maine during the summer. Lucy's mother had died of cancer when she was six, but she knew one thing for sure; her mother loved Maine, and her dad loved her mom.

Yet now, her dad is trying to replace her mom with the PT, Lucy's nickname for her soon-to-be step-mom. She smiles too wide, she's too klutzy, and her teeth are insanely big. Lucy can't stop thinking of all the things that are wrong with the PT. But she has no idea what type of pain the PT went through before she met her dad. Not only is that going wrong, but one of the worst boys in Lucy's whole school now owns a house in Pierson Point. She's started a camp for all of the younger kids, but Ian's ruining the whole thing. Lucy's dog, Superior, is getting old to a point of sadness, (and more scared of fireworks as the years go on). Nothing is turning out right for Lucy. She can't accept the fact that her dad is getting married to the PT, or that she won't ever fit in with the older girls who work at the shop, or that she likes Ian. The Big House might come down, even though it's near a hundred years old, because Ian's dad says it has water damage. Even her little brother, Bucky, likes all of the new changes happening in their lives. But Lucy doesn't at all. Maine is her safety shelter, a place where nothing changes for her, ever. She never has to worry about anything going away or being replaced, about what other people think about her or how she'll get to a class six hallways away in less than two minutes. Maine is her place. Her place. And no one, not ever the PT or Lucy's dad, can take that away from her.

I liked the book, plain and simple. It had many morals to it, like don't judge a book by the cover, or go with the flow. But it shows that good can come out of change…it just takes good people to see it. It really touched me to read this book because I understand some of the changes that Lucy is going through. I understand what it's like to have "your place" and no one else's invaded by an outsider. I know what it's like when one of your parent's get's married or re-married. I know what it's like to lose a loved one or just be waiting and knowing that your dog is going the wrong way in life. But sometimes you just have to learn that changes are the best part of life. A Million Miles from Boston was kind of a comparison to a farm story, it was out in the country and it had loads of lessons to be learned. You kind of had to be a understanding or relating person to really get the story. All in all, I think this book is great.

Review written by Amber (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of A Million Miles from Boston for this review.

Have you read A Million Miles from Boston? How would you rate it?