#BookReview of Saving Red by Sonya Sones & #Giveaway via @harperteen

Right before winter break, fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg reluctantly volunteers to participate in Santa Monica’s annual homeless count, just to get her school’s community service requirement out of the way. But when she ends up meeting Red, a spirited homeless girl only a few years older than she is, Molly makes it her mission to reunite her with her family in time for Christmas. This turns out to be extremely difficult—because Red refuses to talk about her past. There are things Molly won’t talk about either. Like the awful thing that happened last winter. She may never be ready to talk about that. Not to Red, or to Cristo, the soulful boy she meets while riding the Ferris wheel one afternoon.

When Molly realizes that the friends who Red keeps mentioning are nothing more than voices inside Red’s head, she becomes even more concerned about her well-being. How will Molly keep her safe until she can figure out a way to get Red home? In Sonya Sones’ latest novel, two girls, with much more in common than they realize, give each other a new perspective on the meaning of family, friendship, and forgiveness.

I was born in Boston and overprotected in the nearby suburb of Newton. I thought I would be an artist when I grew up. I loved sneaking upstairs to a tiny room in our attic, where I could while away the hours drawing pictures of dinosaurs. The summer I turned seventeen, I fell in love with making animated films (not to mention at least a couple of boys). Soon after, I enrolled in Hampshire College and began teaching animation to children all across the country, while I earned my degree, a B.A. in filmmaking and photography. I went on to teach film at Harvard University, which was pretty astonishing, considering I was only a few years older than my students and I probably couldn't have even gotten in to the school if I had applied! Then, I moved to Hollywood to work for a famous movie director as his personal assistant. But I was fired after a month, because I wasn't very good (okay, I was very bad) at bringing coffee to people. I decided to stay in Hollywood anyhow, and found work as an animator, and then as a production assistant on a Woody Allen movie called Interiors. After that, I worked as a still photographer and script supervisor on Ron Howard's first film, Grand Theft Auto. 

Eventually, I became a film editor, cutting TV shows like L.A. Law and movies like the cult classic, River's Edge - which had Keanu Reeves' first love scene in it! I also edited a trailer for a movie called Urban Cowboy, with John Travolta sitting right there next to me, making suggestions. Then I met my future husband, Bennett, at a taping of a show called Mork and Mindy. Soon after, we got married and I gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Ava. I wanted to be able to spend lots of time with her, so I stopped editing. I ended up starting a small hand-painted baby clothes company instead, selling my wares to Neiman Marcus and Macy's. This was perfect, because I could paint the clothes while Ava took her naps. 
But after awhile, I got tired of trying to come up with one more adorable dino design, or another darling little bunny. I needed to find something new to satisfy my creative urges. By then I had a wonderful son, too, named Jeremy. And since I loved reading to both my children, I decided to try my hand at writing books for kids. So I enrolled in a poetry class at UCLA, taught by Myra Cohn Livingston. It was Myra who set me on the path to writing my first book, Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy.

When I'm not writing, or traveling around the country speaking about writing and giving poetry writing workshops, I bake, dance, read, worry and hunt for buried treasure at flea markets and in vintage clothing stores. I live with my family, twenty-six blocks from the beach, not far from Hollywood.

This book dealt with real problems and sometimes it was hard to read...emotion wise. It felt like my heart was literally breaking in half. But I did enjoy it and Molly is a very inspirational person. Go read it!

"All opinions are 100% honest and my own." 

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Posted in: 4 Stars, Giveaway, HarperCollins, Review