The Stable House
Laura Smith
language
(, Feb. 19, 2016)
It’s 1995, and 11-year-old Heidi Williams has just settled into her new routine as a junior high student when her house catches on fire, leaving her homeless along with her parents and adopted brother, Danny. After the fire, Heidi’s father finds them a temporary house to live in while theirs is being rebuilt. There she meets Dorothy and Stacey, two seventh grade girls who help her readjust to being away from her elderly neighbor and friend, Violet, and growing apart from Danny. Together, they take the bus to the mall, roam the neighborhood on Halloween, take on babysitting jobs, go to a school dance, and help Heidi pursue an older boy who might like her. By the time she moves back home, Heidi is a little wiser and more grown up. The fire becomes the best thing that could have ever happened to her.