HardcoverI was sucked in from the very first scene, which was a birthday pool party with a bunch of pre-teen girls. The cliquishness of the girls and the odd-man-out invitee that comes with the "everyone's included!" mentality of that particular age-group's parents were spot-on. I was almost nauseous with uncomfortable recollection.
When the outsider is sent home early, she talks just fast enough to get another of the girls sent with her...and it's on the walk home that the rest of the story is set in motion. An unattended baby in a carriage becomes a child who must be cared-for (Lippman really understands the pre-teen imagination), which turns out to be an incredibly bad idea.
The entire book continues with the high quality of description and plot -- I bought it all. I was invested and dying to find out the "why" and, indeed, even the "what." Such a quick read and pretty satisfying.
B+
