REBEL MCKENZIE by Candice Ransom

Ransom, Candice. Rebel McKenzie. New York:
Disney-Hyperion Books, 2012.  ISBN 9781423145394

Rebel McKenzie is 12 years old and practically a paleontologist.  The Ice Age type, not the dinosaur type.  Rebel wants nothing more than to go to a Scientific Dig Camp, but can't because her parents had to spend the extra money after the refrigerator broke down.  No problem, Rebel decides to run away from home instead.  Unfortunately, she makes a bad choice in shoes, and ends up having to be taken to the doctor for the numerous blisters on her feet.  Rebel's older sister, who is married with a child, needs Rebel to come babysit her son, Rudy, for no-pay during the summer.  Rebel is determined to somehow earn enough money to attend the Scientific Dig Camp.  During her babysitting adventures with her nephew, Rebel meets a bully who becomes her best friend, Lacy Jane.  Together they decide to enter a beauty pageant and win the money to go to the camp.  By the end of the summer, Rebel has made many new friends and learned a valuable lesson.

Rebel McKenzie is one of the most real twelve year old characters I have met in a book in a long time.  She has real relationships with her family, not fantasy ones.  Rebel acts just like a pre-teen girl: selfish and doesn't understand her choices effect other people.  She loves nonfiction, is funny and flawed, and dreams big.  The other characters in this book are also amazing and very real.  Over the summer babysitting her seven year old nephew, Rebel meets many strong characters in the trailer park, each very unique.  Rebel's sister is a hot-mess, as her husband is off on the job and she if left to take care of herself and her son, while she goes through beauty school.  Lacy Jane has a secret that she hasn't shared yet, and Bambi is a prissy girl full of herself.

The book does feel more like a middle school age book, though it is on the Bluebonnet list for 3rd through 6th graders.

More books by Candice Ransom

Ivy Honeysuckle Meets Her Match

Ivy Honeysuckle Discovers the World

Seeing Sky-Blue Pink

Finding Day's Bottom