Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

She might live on a school bus with her unfit mother and her rescued dog Bobby [End Page 38] Big Boy, but Amber doesn't let her seemingly grim existence shake her unquenchable optimism that she can make the world a better place by the sheer force of her positivity. Every week, she teaches English to the Korean Divas for Christ, entertains the old folks at the nursing home, and takes care of her ragtag crew of social misfit friends, protecting them, particularly Ricky, who is autistic, from the popular kids by physical force if necessary. Then tragedy strikes, and Amber's optimism flickers and threatens to die out, despite the loving support of all the people who have benefited from her sunshine. Fans of children's literature will recognize this character and her plot as Eleanor Porter's Pollyanna, remixed for the twenty-first century, but unlike Pollyanna, Amber begins to question her approach before she is thrown face-to-face with genuine darkness. Her faith in Jesus, a radiant constant throughout her circumstances, is rendered more complex as she admits to herself that her helping others is in part prompted by her belief that if she's good enough, she will deserve the love of a father; her depression leads her to the end of all of her naïveté and emotional resources. Though the plot elements are often sentimental, they're suitable for Amber's story; she self-styles as larger than life, with a distinctive narrative voice. The edge of desperation that limns her flamboyance throws her unguarded moments, such as her flashes of anger toward her mother and the heart-wrenching grief that forces others into understanding that they have conceived her as more than what she is, into sharp relief. The multidimensionality of her character—its bittersweet possibility and utter improbability—will suck readers completely into her world, where they will ride waves of tears through to a world washed clean.