At risk Book

This is one of my favourite books of all time. I don't say that lightly as my other favourite books of all time are Lord of the Flies, Pride and Prejudice and Little Women.

When I found this book in a bookshop back in the early 1990s I had never heard of its author Alice Hoffman before. I read the book in one sitting and then I immediately read it again.

To date I have read it more than 100 times and recommended it to so many people.

I cried for most of the book the first time I read it. I still cry now each time I read it.

The characters are beautiful. They are not perfect - they are an ordinary family.

Amanda is an extraordinary girl and some of my favourite lines and scenes ever in a book, are written with her in them. The part when she has her braces taken off and suddenly realises that she would have grown up to be beautiful. That is a sublime piece of writing.

Her little brother is a wonder and I adore their relationship.

If you have never heard of Alice Hoffman I urge you to buy this book and then every other book she has ever written.

You have a real treat in store and sometimes I wish that I was finding this book At Risk and her other books for the first time.