Rainbeau Harley — Cerredwyn Horrigan

"The dialogue-rich story creates multidimensional characters that come to life on the page. In addition, Horrigan's coming-of-age novel has a fast-paced plot that brims with life lessons. An intimate, emotional journey through the hardships of one girl's adolescence.” -- Kirkus Reviews
Bi-racial, fourteen-year-old Rainbeau Harley wants nothing more than to maintain her freedom from neglectful parents and achieve her dream to become a tattoo artist. She works more diligently in her uncle's tattoo shop than she does at school. When eighth grade ends, her mother's manfriend makes her feel unsafe in the round wooden yurt she calls home. Rainbeau agrees to a road trip across the country with her mother to avoid his advances. On the journey, she learns to improvise, adapt, and overcome to survive a soaking in the Mississippi, to avoid a peeping Tom and a tatted cat lady, and to confront an Oyster and things hairy with giant teeth. Rainbeau must relinquish her dreams and her freedom in order to attain what she truly desires �" a real family. Readers who enjoy the works of Sharon Creech, Lisa Yee, and Jane Smiley will appreciate the first book in this series by Cerredwyn Horrigan.