As a teacher, this book gave me more insight into some of my students with autism. While autism is a spectrum, and not all children are like Merilee, it still helped me get inside their heads for a little while and see the world from their eyes. It is very well-written. I highly recommend it. ( )

Children's fiction; realistic fiction.
"Merilee leads a Very Ordered Existence. V.O.E., for short. Her schedule (which must not be altered) includes, among other entries:
* School (horrendous)
* Litter patrol (30 minutes daily)
* Lunch (PB&J and a pickle)
* Bottle return (Friday only, at the Piggly Wiggly)
* Dame Fiona's meditation show (Saturday only, 6:00 am)
"The V.O.E. is all about precision."

A girl with Asperger's syndrome (Merilee) has her life in order until three strangers blow into town: an 8-year-old boy (Biswick) with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, his alcoholic poet father, and a woman with a secret (Veraleen). Biswick quickly grows attached to Merilee, throwing her off of her carefully maintained schedule (causing her great distress). Wonderful characters and character development; it was very easy to get wrapped up in the small-town drama of their lives. ( )

What a treat of a book! The small town of Jumbo, Texas (oxymoron) is home to this young lady with Asperger's syndrome. She is a delightfully quirky character just trying to understand the world around her. ( )

This book had good character development. I'll give it that. Sadly, it was not interesting. The most interesting part was Merilee's dragons and the little, paragraph-long stories about them we got every few chapters.

This book was lacking a plot. The characters did not seem their ages. I'm having trouble believing any of them are over the age of eight even though they are supposed to be thirteen. I understand that Biswick has developmental issues, but I don't the problems for Merilee and Bitsy. Merilee was way too simple for a thirteen-year-old who's supposedly advanced. Every statement she makes a simple observation of the world around her. Her "genius" was the fact that would say a long word like horrendous or marvellous sarcastically when she was annoyed (which was pretty much the whole time). It just made her sound like a broken record.

Also, Merilee's V.O.E. did not seem very important to her. She was always blaming them for breaking it when in relatively it seemed like she just got herself distracted and could not handle the blame. Thi, however, was a good point for her character development because she loses her V.O.E. as the story goes on and she starts to take some responsibly for their actions.

Also, that cheeto talked about in the beginning had little significance to anything. It doesn't even come into the play until over 100 pages have passed. ( )

Aspergers book. Very well done. Small town setting is captured very well. Lots of problem topics and the book drags in spots but worth the read for the great characters. ( )