Reading Rumpus: Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott

Danielle (aka: Helen, Sydney, Hortense, and any other name that might fit the need) is a thief, just like her mother and father. Her life consists of looking into other people’s windows and coveting their stuff. She hasn’t gone to school, nor had a friend or boyfriend.

Landing in the beach town of Heaven, Danielle and her mother begin to case out the rich beach homes filled with shiny silver (her mother’s specialty) and for the first time in Danielle’s life, things begin to change.

Danielle starts to make friends and flirts dangerously with the one young man her mother would deny her. It’s her first chance to have an identity that includes friends and first love, to maybe have something she can call her own. These steps toward normalcy will test her loyalty to her mother, the only person who has ever cared for Danielle, and force difficult decisions to be made.

Highly engaging and astute, Stealing Heaven gives us an unlikely teen heroine in a unique scenario struggling with the same worries as any teen. The story unfolds with grace and insight into the teen mindset. This reader read it in one sitting, falling in love with Danielle's authentic voice. Perhaps the best part of the story is the unresolved ending, giving us hope that Danielle’s possibilities are unlimited.

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Resources:

Genre: Realistic Fiction. Age: Young Adult. Pages:320.

Themes: Difficult Decisions, Non-traditional Families, Romance

Award: YLASA 2009 Best Book For Young Adults
Publisher: Harper Teen. Date: May 2008
ISBN-10:0061122807 / ISBN-13:978-0061122804

Buy Stealing Heaven Here

The book site for Stealing Heaven

Harper Teen Site for Elizabeth Scott

Author Elizabeth Scott is well known around the web. She's been hosting a fun blog on her website since March of 2006. In her bio section she mentions her love of writing young adult novels because of a special appreciation for the difficulties of being a teenager.
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Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott - Book Review