This Journal Belongs to Ratchet — Nancy Cavanaugh

Meet Ratchet, an 11-year-old girl who knows more about spark plugs than sleepovers. Homeschooled by her mechanic-environmentalist dad, and with her mother long dead, Ratchet only wants one thing: to belong.

This is Ratchet's journal and in its pages are Ratchet's writings, her poems, and her drawings. Together, they tell Ratchet's story. It's a story about trying to make friends, about fighting to save a park, about the memories of her mother, and about her unlikely friendship with a boy. This journal is her sanctuary. And it's always there for Ratchet when no one else will listen.