The Crystal Garden

THe story begins when Eliza, the main charactor, has to move from her home to a completely new place. Determined to be popular, she tries not to become friends with Dierdre, the girl next door who is even weirder and less cool than Eliza herself. Despite her efforts, Dierdre shows her a raft she's working on in secret, a raft meant for only one thing- escape. On the first day of school, Eliza is shunned by the girls she most wants to be like- the girls who wear designer jeans and and look cool without even trying. Finally, though, one girl notices her by asking herto help steal and encyclepedia from the school library. Eliza does it, and from then on she is invited to all the parties and sleepovers held by the girls form Richview Heights. In her newfound popularity, she tries to forget about Dierdre, but something she said keeps nagging her. "Aske her why she picked you," Dierdre had said, Finally Elaza asks the girl why. She tells Eliza that she knew she had once lied to a teacher, so she assumed that she would also steal the book... yeah. Bob the Builder.

The Crystal Garden is an awsome book. It starts out when Eliza and her mother are living together, along way away from her mothers boyfriend. But one day her moms boyfriend came over and ask them to move in at his house, a small pink trelier in the small town of Gouge eye.Eliza is kind of an out cast at school and see's this as her chance tho change her life and bepopular. When she gets there she becomes friends with a neighbor, Dreidre. Once school starts she began to hang with the popular kids, but she soon relized what was really goning on. The popular kids were using her and Burl,her moms boyfriend was using her moms money from the waitressing job she got at a small resturant in town. It ends up that Eliza finds her real frind Dre, and Eliza, her mom, dre, and dres mom all move in together in a small up town apartment.

Eliza and her mother, Lorna, start off on a new adventure to start over from the tragic loss of Eliza's father by moving to a pink trailer in the small town of Gouge Eye, Missouri. Eliza throughout this book takes a number of tests to get herself in the "popular" crowd, and try's to make her "science-book" minded friend Deirdre understand. Even though she puts her relationships with people around her at great risks, she finally understands what real friendship is.

Eliza and her mother move to a small town in Missouri hoping for a new start, but Eliza only finds old problems wearing new faces. A 1997-98 Mark Twain Award nominee, Vickie Grove is a master at capturing the emotions and difficulties growing children must learn to resolve.