From Publishers Weekly
The author of The Skin I'm In offers another provocative slice of city life, vibrantly evoking its sights, sounds and smells. With her brassy voice and saucy attitude, 13-year-old Raspberry Hill emerges as a vivacious heroine. She knows first-hand that living in the housing project is better than being out on the streets, but she and her mother are equally determined to move to a safer neighborhood. That's why Raspberry is so "money hungry," hoarding her savings and doing almost anything ("I wouldn't do nothing bad. Nothing that would hurt people, like selling dope, or shoplifting") to earn a few extra dollars. Her stinginess (well known throughout the school) causes as many problems as solutions. When her money issues begin interfering with her friendships, Raspberry is forced to reexamine her priorities and values. Flake candidly expresses the difficulty in breaking the cycle of poverty and leaves it up to readers to judge Raspberry's acts. Ironically, it's not the heroine's stash of hard-earned cash that brings about positive change for the family, but rather her mother's ingenuity and the support offered by generous neighbors. Ages 8-12. (June) Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 7-9-Raspberry Hill, 13, loves money. She sells clearance holiday candy and pencils, and keeps her lunch money rather than eat. She hoards every dime she can gather and hides her cash in her room. Greed drives her and is more important than friends, boys, or her mother's love. Ever since her father got involved with drugs and she and her mother lived on the streets for a while, cash makes her feel safe. She and her mother now have a place of their own, but life in the projects is hardly ideal. Everybody has problems: Mai Kim, with her mixed heritage; Ja'nae, whose mother deserted her; the bothersome neighbors, Check and Shoe, who help drug dealers in order to eat. When Raspberry's mother finds her stash, she thinks it's stolen, and throws it out the window. Everything else-furniture, dishes, and clothes-is stolen from their apartment and the teen and her mother are on the street again. Raspberry then has to face the questions in her life and work with her mother toward possible solutions. Flake does a stunning job of intertwining Raspberry's story with daily urban scenes, and she writes smoothly and knowingly of teen problems, discussions, and reactions. Focused storytelling, clear writing, and a compelling voice are the highlights of this short novel.Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. "If you got money, people can't take stuff from you--not your house, or your ride, not your family. They can't do nothing much to you, if you got a bankroll backing you up." Thirteen-year-old Raspberry Hill knows what it's like not to have security. After leaving her drug-addicted father, Raspberry and her mother lived on friends' couches and on the street before they landed in the projects. Now, while Raspberry's mom works two jobs and goes to school, Raspberry obsessively does anything she can to grow that bankroll to back her up; she sells pencils and old candy; cleans houses for the elderly; and washes cars at stoplights. Her three close friends both support her and mock her. There's Mia, who fights against her Korean and African American parents, wanting to identify herself only as black; Ja'nae, who lives with loving grandparents but yearns for her flaky, estranged mother; and Zora, whose divorced physician father, Dr. Mitchell, seems to be romancing Raspberry's mother, which upsets both girls. The razor-sharp dialogue and unerring details evoke characters, rooms, and neighborhoods with economy and precision, creating a story that's immediate, vivid, and unsensationalized. Without synthetic drama or stereotypes, Flake shows poverty and how it touches everyone, whether it's the actual absence of money or the fear of losing it. A few of the characters are less developed; Dr. Mitchell in particular is vague and a little too perfect. But Flake creates scenes of heart-stopping tenderness and tension between Raspberry and her friends and especially with her mother, as they struggle to leave the projects, suffering breakdowns and break-ins along the way, finally moving into a house of their own. Whatever teens' own familial insecurities may be, they will read something of their own lives in this title from the author of The Skin I'm In (1998). Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Card catalog description
All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.

ANNOTATION

All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

"With her brassy voice and saucy attitude, 13-year-old Raspberry Hill emerges as a vivacious heroine," said PW. "The author candidly expresses the difficulty in breaking the cycle of poverty and leaves it up to readers to judge Raspberry's acts." Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

Raspberry Hill knows what it is like to be on the streets, to sleep in an abandoned car and to bathe in a public washroom. Now living in the projects with her mother, the thirteen-year-old has vowed never to live like that again. Raspberry is obsessed with money—earning it and keeping it—and never seems to have enough of it. Money is her life. She loves the feel of it, the smell of it. It motivates all that she does. Whether it is selling pencils or involving her friends in cleaning a filthy nursing home, Raspberry is always scheming for a way to make a buck. Against her better judgment she digs into her $600 nest egg to loan $200 to her friend Ja'nai and frets continually over its return. The loan that deepens the rift between Raspberry and her mother, who fears that greed is destroying her child. In a fit of rage, Raspberry's mother throws her money out of the window after being mistakenly told that the money is stolen. This act becomes the catalyst for Raspberry to examine the hold that money has over her and her own depth of forgiveness. Tough and tender, with moments of humor, this is a riveting story. The streetwise Raspberry and the mean streets she inhabits are vividly portrayed in the vernacular of the streets, and hers is a story that is hard to put down. Urban kids will nod their heads in agreement with Raspberry, and suburban kids will come away with a new understanding and respect. 2001, Hyperion, $16.99 and $15.99. Ages 12 to 14. Reviewer: Beverley Fahey

VOYA

Thirteen-year-old Raspberry Hill is obsessed with money. She comes up with all kinds of schemes to make it and hoards her stash in her bedroom. Simple greed is not what motivates her. Raspberry and her mother have been homeless, and Raspberry is convinced that the only way to keep that from happening again is to have money. Her schemes get her in trouble at school and put her at odds with her friends, each of whom has problems of her own. When Raspberry's mother finds the money, she thinks that it is stolen and throws it out the window. When their apartment in the projects is robbed, they indeed end up on the streets again, although a hopeful ending suggests that they will not be there for long. Where Flake excels is in her depiction of these people and their lives. Most of the many characters spring to life—Raspberry, her mother, and in particular, Raspberry's friends, Zora, Mia, and Ja'nae. The plot, however, is less successful. Raspberry really does not grow or change, and the ending is abrupt and almost too good to be true. As a slice-of-life story and in the depiction of relationships, this book is vivid, compelling, and disturbing. Teen readers either will see themselves in it or have their eyes opened. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2001, Hyperion/Disney, 187p, $15.99. Ages 11 to 15. Reviewer: Alice F. Stern SOURCE: VOYA, February 2002 (Vol. 24, No.6)

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-Raspberry Hill, 13, loves money. She sells clearance holiday candy and pencils, and keeps her lunch money rather than eat. She hoards every dime she can gather and hides her cash in her room. Greed drives her and is more important than friends, boys, or her mother's love. Ever since her father got involved with drugs and she and her mother lived on the streets for a while, cash makes her feel safe. She and her mother now have a place of their own, but life in the projects is hardly ideal. Everybody has problems: Mai Kim, with her mixed heritage; Ja'nae, whose mother deserted her; the bothersome neighbors, Check and Shoe, who help drug dealers in order to eat. When Raspberry's mother finds her stash, she thinks it's stolen, and throws it out the window. Everything else-furniture, dishes, and clothes-is stolen from their apartment and the teen and her mother are on the street again. Raspberry then has to face the questions in her life and work with her mother toward possible solutions. Flake does a stunning job of intertwining Raspberry's story with daily urban scenes, and she writes smoothly and knowingly of teen problems, discussions, and reactions. Focused storytelling, clear writing, and a compelling voice are the highlights of this short novel.-Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews