Surviving Aunt Marsha by Sofie Laguna

I really enjoyed the style of this book. The chapters are very short, sometimes following the story line and sometimes just sort of random recollections by the main character,
11-year-old Bettina. Bettina's parents leave for a 3-week vacation in Paris to rediscover the romance in their marriage, and their hateful Aunt Marsha comes to stay with Bettina and her two younger brothers. Since Bettina is the oldest she feels it is up to her to make things go smoothly....even though Aunt Marsha won't let their dog, who usually sleeps on Vince's bed, come in the house at all, and makes them eat black kidney pie for dinner, and won't let Aidan read his comic books. The book is funny, but it really made me feel bad for the poor kids. There's an exciting event at the end involving lightning, a tree house, and Aunt Marsha who's afraid of heights. However, I didn't feel the resolution was believable. Perhaps Aunt Marsha really does love the kids, but I thought the change in her character and the sudden love shared between them all was a bit much to swallow. Review by Stacy Church