Savvy

Savvy by Ingrid LawMibs Beaumont can’t wait to turn thirteen. Her Daddy’s bought her a beautiful yellow dress and her Momma’s going to make her a yellow and pink cake with perfect roses on it. But she’s also a little nervous. The Beaumonts – at least her mother’s side of the family – all have savvies, and the savvy usually comes out on the thirteenth birthday. When her older brother, Fish, turned thirteen, he caused a hurricane so big they all had to move to the Midwest, where there wasn’t enough water to cause hurricanes. Her oldest brother Rocket can make light bulbs burst if he isn’t paying attention, and keep the old family car running if he is. Her Momma does everything perfectly.

But just a couple of days before the birthday, her Daddy is in car accident. Her mother goes to the hospital to be with him, and the nosy preacher’s wife zooms in on Mibs’s birthday. Before long, Mibs, Fish and younger brother Samson, as well as the preacher’s snotty sixteen-year-old sister and her sweet younger brother from Mibs’s class have all snuck onto a pink Bible-selling bus trying to get to the hospital to see Mibs’s father. She’s not entirely sure what her savvy is yet, but she’s pretty sure it will help him. If only she can get there in time. And if the voices suddenly in her head would just shut up.

It’s another tale of a girl with a special gift, also on the 2008 Booklist best booklist. This one, though, is for a much younger audience, a fun and crazy tale of coming into the teens with a homespun feel.