Trouble With Dilly (Paperback)

Master storyteller Rachna Gilmore has created a very funny and poignant glimpse into the chaotic inner life of a bright, hockey-playing girl named Dilly who is growing up above her parent's Indian grocery store. As in all of her books we are given a richly detailed world full of smells and sounds and tastes. Her hard-working parents have rented out the top floor to a newly arrived family from Hungary, including a son that Dilly thinks is incredibly surly. Her heart tells her to be nice to him but how can she when he is being such a pill? Doesn't he know that she is going to be a rich hockey-playing writer some day? She doesn't have time to worry about how Mr. Sulkyface is feeling or how poor his family is. She's almost got enough money saved for new skates and Christmas is coming.... oh why did she say what she said? What can she possible do to make it better and change that disappointed look on her mother's face into one of glowing pride? Gilmore has an amazing talent for making us squirm, laugh and rejoice inside Dilly's head and then watch her with both her best and annoying friends as they try to pull off a miracle. Her characters always stick in my head, perhaps because they spark a memory? My favorites are Simon, the sneaky little snot-nosed, redheaded boy who all of the parents like and "The Great White Hen", Dilly's scary Punjabi-speaking grandmother. I loved this book and I really like Dilly, so I can hardly wait to see what her next escapade will be.