Now, your average eleven-year-old would probably have been scared out of her wits, not knowing where she was headed, where the ride was taking her, not knowing what waited ahead.
But not me. Not Cal Lavendar. I wasn’t scared at all. My knees were aligned, my thighs pressing together and perfectly matched. My hands were folded on my lap. Why should I have been scared? After all, this wasn’t my story. This was just a short, temporary detour from what I call life.
When Cal Lavendar’s mother has one of her unfortunate episodes, and Cal is brought to “The Pumpkin House” she knows this isn’t her story, not her life. The Pumpkin house is a home for girls whose mothers and fathers can’t, or wouldn’t take care of them anymore. Here Cal meets Monica, Fern, Whitney, Amber, and the strange old lady everyone calls “The Knitting Lady”. She doesn’t think she will be here for long, so why bother pretend this is her life? Soon, though, despite all her resolutions, Cal feels herself being accepted, and even liked. Will she accept this change as just another chapter of “What I call life”? (again, you should know by now that we don’t spoil books.)
I thought this was an o.k. book. It had a bittersweet ending, and I didn’t really like Cal all that much, but I think that this book teaches an important lesson on life. I would give this book 2 3/4 stars.