conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a book titled Everything Beautiful about Riley, Reed, Grade with the genre: Children's Books, Geography & Cultures.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Grade 9 Up&mdash;In this thoughtful Australian novel, a troubled 16-year-old girl finds love and meaning in unexpected places. Riley Rose&mdash;rebellious, promiscuous, and deeply unhappy after the death of her mother&mdash;is dumped at an isolated Christian camp for a week so that her father and stepmother can go on vacation. Overweight, wisecracking Riley expects to hate everyone at Spirit Ranch. Instead, she bonds with some of her bunkmates and falls for Dylan, a paraplegic fellow camper. a clich&eacute;d situation&mdash;the bond between two outcasts&mdash;is instead touching and believable. There are some camp bullies, of course, but even the villains prove to have redeeming qualities. Riley is an appealingly flawed main character, tough-talking and funny at the same time. She hangs on to her skepticism but allows some tenderness to penetrate her armor. That she could change so profoundly in a single week sometimes stretches credibility, and the slow pace might deter less determined readers. Overall, however, this novel will appeal to sensitive teens who will root for Riley and the other camp underdogs.&mdash;<I>Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.