Spoilers ahead! I didn't really understand a lot of things in this book. First, the characters seemed one dimensional all the time. For example, Boo-boo was a bad character and her dimension was reduced to a simple-minded, overly-gregarious pathological liar. Why she lied was never revealed but I guess you can make assumptions. Her suicide was not really explored in depth or discussed. Cammie is just angry and plotting all the time. Her father is always calm and cool or absent. Reggie is too cool for school. It just got annoying and predictable after some time.

I felt like ideas were mentioned and not fleshed out. Cammie has a boy that likes her, has 2-4 chapters, and he's gone. Reggie is obsessed with a few things for about a few chapters while she deals with Cammie as a kind of shitty friend. There's a murderer who gets mentioned or his protesters do a few times throughout the book, but never gets any background added. I liked the plot but I would have liked a more explored side-line plot. I liked the dreamy setting. I liked the kind warden trying to do right for his inmates. This book reminded me just a tad of All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook so maybe that's why I kept reading it but would I recommend it? No. Is this book something I would rather keep on the shelf rather than sell to HPB? No. Go read All Rise... for a feel good child-in-a-prison town novel.

This book didn't feel like an overarching story for at least the first half--rather more like a series of vignettes. However, the last quarter really pulled together in terms of Cammie's search for a mother figure and making peace with the loss of her biological mother. I cried a few times. A great book for upper elementary kids on the cusp of puberty and middle school and their own coming of age journeys.

Could you imagine living in a prison - not as a prisoner, but as the child of the warden? In 1959, twelve year old Cannonball Cammie does just that. Why is she called Cannonball Cammie you ask? Well, this gal is full of frustration and anger, and she has earned this nickname. She says, "I had four favorite things to do when I was mad: ride my bike, eat junk, spit in the spittoon in the back of the prison lobby, known as the Reception, and punch the imported lunch meat in the Salami Room" (62). Why is she so angry at the world? Well, her mother died when Cammie was very young. Her mother rescued her from being hit by a milk truck, but her mother did not make it. During the summer before her thirteenth birthday, Cammie's anger comes to a head. She longs to have a mother help her make the transition into her teen years. Cammie hatches a plan, she is going to find a mother. However, the only possibilities she can see are the female inmates of the prison. You'll laugh at some of Cammie's antics, share some of her frustration, and cry along with some of the pain she feels and the harsh realities of life. You'll get a glimpse into what life is like as the "warden's daughter."
- heartwarming, but needs a mature audience - touches on tough topics such as suicide, violence, etc.

Cammie is the Warden's Daughter. She lives in the local prison with her father and seems to enjoy a lot of freedom throughout the prison itself. Cammie is cared for by a series of trustees since her mother was killed by a milk truck saving baby Cammie. The summer she turns twelve, Cammie decides she needs a mother. She doesn't really remember her mother and misses the things she thinks a mother would bring to her life. She decides the inmates are the best pool to get a mother from. Her choices seem to be BooBoo, a larger than life inmate who latches onto Cammie, or Eloda Pupka, the current trustee taking care of her. Cammie interacts with BooBoo in the "yard" and really likes her, but decides she is not mother material. Eloda wins by default, but Eloda seems to have no interest in Cammie. She does her job and not much else despite Cammie's multiple attempts to put her in "mother" situations.

It is also the year before junior high and Cammie and her friends are enjoying their last summer as kids before they become teenagers. Best friend Reggie is obsessed with fashion and makeup and American Bandstand. She even gets to dance on Bandstand and becomes an instant sensation. There is a boy who likes Cammie, but Cammie doesn't treat him well. In fact, Cammie treats most people terribly. She is mean to her father and her friends and everyone else. Cammie tells us she is not a happy person, but for the most part she seems like a normal grumpy teen.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. Cammie is pretty unlikeable throughout most of the book, but that didn't bother me as much as some of the other things that happen. BooBoo is a stereotypical "happy Black" character who loves the "master's" daughter. It was kind of uncomfortable to read those section because of how much of a stereotype the relationship was. There is no depth to BooBoo until she commits suicide, which throws Cammie into a black funk. Eloda is distant and cold throughout the entire book, she shows no interest in being Cammie's mother and why Cammie decides on her is a mystery. Then conveniently in the last chapters it is revealed that Eloda really did care and was just pretending to get Cammie to realize what her real mother's death had meant to her. This is all revealed through diary entries and is a HORRIBLE plot device. I didn't believe a word of it. Bad Story Telling! I expected better than the cop out ending from Spinelli. Cammie's journey of accepting her loss was an important one and was diminished by the ending.

I received this book from Netgalley.

Seeing as Mr. Spinelli is coming to my library next week, I wanted to read his latest. It appears this story was inspired by a friend of his who spent his childhood as a warden's daughter just like 13-year old Cammie. Mr. Spinelli has spun a tale of love and grief, freedom and confinement, and making new friends while saying goodbye to dear ones. Surprises appear and disappear quickly and to a young reader may not be entirely predictable. Older kids (pre-teens and teens) will relate to the dance parties and sleepovers even if they don't know how important Bandstand was in the late 1950s; the thrill of waiting to see a best friend on TV generates the standard scream fest

I am not doing an official review. I need to reread. I can't believe I would think of giving a Spinelli book 3 stars. I must have not been feeling well when I read it. I will get back to you when I have reread it!

Just did not like Cammie at all. Characters fell flat for me. Couldn't buy in.

Slow starter, but makes up for it as it moves along; some powerful displays of emotions.

Racial stereotypes, inmates objectified as curiosities, weird ending.

There was one good part- the "love bridge." A beautiful concept, sweet, described with joy and enthusiasm that could be understood by anyone.

The rest? NOPE.

I loved this book! I read it for the first time about three or four years ago, and it was just as amazing as the first time! Made me cry in all the same places, and in some new ones. The author is incredible, and I’m looking forward to reading more of his books!